Sunset Costa Rica

My Water Post For Today.

This is Costa Rica at sunset. Costa Rica is in Central America, so they are warmer then we are in the United States.

This shot actually reminds me so much of the many sunsets I experienced in Oswego, NY. Trees on the shore, framing the shot and spectacular clouds up above.

I hope you enjoy it.

Costa Rican Birds, AKA The Real Toucan Sam

More photos from my friend's anniversary trip to Costa Rica.

My friend spent time communing with many wild creatures. Of the many she took photos of, I especially love the birds.

I particularly enjoyed seeing a real Toucan.

I find it totally amazing that they are actually those bright colors in real life. I always thought the cereal box exaggerated a bit. :-)





These birds are Crested Oropendolas.
The male of the species, has a very bright yellow tail and a mostly black body. The females are (of course) more brown and dull. Isn't it always the way...

I never heard of them, but you can read a bit about them HERE.

They are feeding (according to my friend) on a bizarre shaped bird feeder.

I hope you enjoyed a quick trip to Central America. Tomorrow will be the first of 2 water posts, this one, a sunset. The final one will turn up next week, when I will have a totally different kind of water post from her trip.

Costa Rica

I have a traffic colleague who just spent a week or so in Costa Rica on vacation with her husband. She posted photos on Facebook and I asked for a photo or two for my water posts. She thankfully not only gave me permission to post a few of them, she let me take several.

This one, as a point of introduction, is her flying through the air in the canopy high above the ground of Costa Rica.

She always has got a big grin on her face, outside work situations, but this one goes even beyond that. I can't think of a more joyful photo of her.

Rock on, Kelly.

Will There Be Snow Again?

The weather people are finally letting us know that we might have a few hours of snow between tonight and Saturday morning. Just in case that does turn out to be fact, I am sending my Husband out to do our shopping, so that all will be well here. I would love to just kick back and watch it just happen, so I am good with whatever occurs.

As he did back on January 2nd, my Husband is planning on finding his snow shovel again, to ward off the snowfall. He is so funny like that. He truly believes that if he gets it out, we won't get snow. :-)

Looking forward to an interesting weekend.


======================
Photo:
This is one of the ones
that I took back on
January 2nd of this year.



Update: The interesting weekend ended up being a dud, snow wise. But we are experiencing episodes of hail, as you can see in this video I shot around 12PM Saturday afternoon.

My New Candy Dish

I admit that I love beautiful, colorful things.

I saw this on my trip to the Getty Center and after much agonizing, it ended up being purchased by me. It is glass and each little section is hand painted a different color, by artists in Italy. I fell in love with it and decided it would work out well on my desk. So I put a few paper clips in it and it now has been there for the past few weeks. Truly, it gives me such joy to have something so colorful there on my mostly utilitarian desk.

Much thanks to the person at the Getty who is in charge of purchasing. In my humble opinion, they have a good eye for art. At least in this case.

A Tale Of A Veteran's Plate

Our family each have a vanity plate. My Husband's dates back to before I came into his life...the mid to late 70's. Being it is over 30 years old, the blue plate has gotten older and of course dinged up a bit. My son didn't want him to change plates, because the old blue and orange color plates are no longer available and the colors helped him identify when his father was coming to pick him up. Now days, my son has one of my cars to use and being we wanted to change out the vanity plate on his car and give it to my car, that left him without a plate. So I offered to buy him a vanity plate for the Blue Car and move mine over. Cool! We choose what we want for his car and I said it would be my present to him for his birthday.
At the same time, I offered my Husband a Veteran's Plate to replace the old one on his car. He liked that idea and off we went to DMV to make this happen. Little did we know on that day in September, that it would ultimately take almost a year and a half, to get the thing finished and placed on his car.
In defense of the State of California, the plate did come in originally in December of that year, but the numbers were shifted all the way to the left, instead of centered. The people at the DMV said that it looked terrible like that and they would send a request to restamp the plate, this time centered. Great, we figured that would be another 2 or 3 months.
We waited until the requested time and then went back, the person would send a follow up request and say to wait another 2 or 3 months. We would do that and again, nothing. Everyone at the DMV got to know my poor Hubby, by the end of this process...supervisors included.
Finally, in December of the next year, we get the plate. Yay! Except it does not have the Army sticker that goes on the left side of the plate. So back to the DMV he goes and requests the stickers.

The stickers came in the mail last Saturday, almost a year and a half later and as you can see, it looks GREAT!

Enjoy your new plates, you have earned them.

====================
Photo:
Obviously the photo has
the numbers removed
from it...but you get the idea.

Pregnant And Alone?

This is the saddest thing I have seen in a long time.

A girl carrying a sign written on a piece of cardboard that says she is pregnant and needs help.

Unfortunately for me, I was waiting for my son and so I was in my car watching her as she held her sign in front of the many people leaving Church after my Mass. The longer I sat and watched, the more heartbreaking it seemed...but I am a hardened New Yorker/Angeleno and things like this are not to be acted on.
What I wanted to do, is go up to her and ask why she was doing this?
How hard is it to get some help from the many sources we have here in Santa Clarita. The homeless shelter, for one.

That is why I did not approach her. Chances are, it's a scam of some sort and I really don't need that in my life.

But why do I keep asking myself, What would Jesus do?

Sigh...

Ginnie Springs, Florida

My Water Post For Today.

My good friend, Ken Kurtis was off communing with the manatees in Florida last week and of all the photos he is sending back to us, this one spoke to me. A diver framed in a cavern opening, at a place called Ginnie Springs.

The man is an amazing photographer and carries some great digital equipment to take advantage of of that fact.

I hope you enjoy a photo taken from underwater, bubbles and all.

Zeroing Out Funding For Public TV

So the House of Representatives voted to kill all funding to Public Television Stations yesterday. This is at least the third time we have been attacked by our Government. The first one being during the Nixon administration, when the President felt threatened by the media. I remember reading about it in college.

The next time was during the Newt Gingrich years and maybe another time or two along the way, during my 30 year career. You seriously wonder about these attacks, especially since you look at the wasteland that is the rest of the television channels and you shake your head. My family watches such Discovery Channel atrocities as Ice Road Truckers, Mythbusters, Deadliest Catch and some new show called Flying Wild Alaska. One train wreck TV show after the other, IMHO.
These channels were supposed to be supported by cable fees, to bring quality Science and History (OMG, don't get me started on what goes for history on The History Channel) to its viewers. What I am saying is that none of these alternative channels or the main big broadcasters, care a fig about the content of a program. All they care about are your eyeballs watching their commercials. This is NOT in your best interest, People!
I don't say not to watch commercial TV, but if you want something that makes you think once in a while, that cares about your children and how they learn (ask my then three year old where he learned about some complex scientific principal and he would say, Bill Nye The Science Guy), that brings you things no commercial broadcaster would touch with a 10 foot pole (Live From Lincoln Center or Great Performances anyone?), turn your TV over to your local Public Television Station. You will be glad you did.

So the House voted to take away all funding to Public media, effective immediately. This is an incredible $1 (and change) each year from each tax paying citizen of the US. Wow, that made a big dent in the trillions of dollars budget deficit, now didn't it.
Thank goodness it still has to pass the Senate and of course, be signed into law by the President, for it to be fact, but still, what are the legislators smoking?

Photos And Not Being Able To Serve Two Masters

The bible has it right. You can not serve two masters.

I was looking for a photo and when I end up in the past, photos that I like, catch my eye. This one from our trip to Washington DC, did that to me.

I took a quick look around the DC stuff I posted a few years ago and I don't see the photo, so you get it here. You can just barely see the Washington Monument, but I can't make it any darker. That's the problem with photos that have two masters, you can't serve both. In this case, anything I do for me, I ruin the background and anything I do for the background, ruins me.

Maybe it's the fact that I am wearing a jacket that I can't wear anymore, maybe its the darkness with the light, but I like the shot.
I hope you can see it on your home computer, cause it is hard to tell how dark is too dark, with my computer screen at home.

Make Believe To Air On Showtime

Make Believe is the movie that is about 6 junior magician's competing for a prize. We saw this excellent movie at a screening last year at the Los Angeles Film Festival. I "liked" the movie on Facebook and I have been watching and hoping that the film gets some sort of distribution deal, so that a wider audience gets to see it. Just the other day I heard that not only will it get a theatrical release, but it will air on Showtime first. I don't get Showtime, but for any who do, it's a great movie and well worth the time spent. Try to catch it if you can.
I may be biased, because I know one of the performers, but I don't think so, the movie truly rocks!

Photo at the top is of my Magic son who happens to be in the audience in one of the shots, that took place in The Magic Castle. My real son is in the same shot. :-)

Downtown In The Rain

LA when a rain storm is going through, is such a treat to see.

We had some rain yesterday and will probably be dealing with it for the next week or so and thus, this will be our usual for a bit.
But since we have had almost 2 months of no rain (minus the Sunday I was at the Getty) it was pleasant to see. It called all of us to the windows at work, to check out the afternoon clearing.

There is nothing quite like the buildings of Downtown LA, lording over the entire LA Basin.

Can You Tell Me How To Get, How To Get To Sesame Street

I have mentioned this whole fiasco on my Facebook account, but I wanted to bring it over here, to my blog.

Last week at work, I was informed that a poster that I have hanging in my office must be taken down and brought home, or else it will be gotten rid of.

I had been in on conversations regarding the posters in our main lobby area and that the old shows that we did for PBS needed to be removed. I was totally on board with that line of thought, but this poster was in my own personal space. I never see visitors to the lot and it made no sense that an innocent 35th Anniversary Sesame Street poster needed to be removed. My boss across the hall from me, had to remove her Ken Burns' Jazz poster, too. Neither of us were pleased, but we did what we were ordered to do. In the meantime, the light pole just outside our office building proudly had the Sesame Street sign on it...we wondered how long that was going to last.
As it ended up, it's days were numbered...

The next morning, it was gone.

All that was left was a sign for Raymond A. Watt Way, that had been on the other side of the pole. I gather the street itself, no longer carries the Sesame Street name, either.

Wow, what a total shame.

Welcome Clarisse!

After several weeks of waiting, here is my new "cat" niece, Clarisse. Check out those beautiful green eyes that she has. :-)

As mentioned back at the end of the year, my sister and her husband lost their cat of many years. I was sure that this was it and no other cat would be allowed into their house...but I was wrong for once.
Clarisse arrived one Saturday from a shelter and after doing the hide thing for days on end, she has slowly adjusted to life in my sister's house.

I am so happy to know a stray has a home and that my sister and brother in law have someone to love.

Welcome Clarisse. I can't wait to meet you!

Little Creatures Fountain

My Water Post For Today.

A quick Happy Valentine's Day to all. :-)

This is what I call the little creatures fountain. The rocks are much smaller here in this area, then in the big one I showcased last Monday. You can see one of the rocks actually looks a bit like a turtle. This is also what my son was looking at, when he was staring out the window, in a shot I posted a week or so ago.

We both liked that they not only had a view of the fountain outside, but through a window on the inside. It made for a serene place to stop and rest.

I hope you like it too.

The LA Times Finally Publishes Something Positive

This is my final word on the subject of Egypt and our coverage.

A letter in Saturday's Los Angeles Times Calendar section.

Minus his hit at PBS, I truly believe he says it all.

Thank you sir, for making the hell I have been dealing with, worthwhile.


"However dubious the reasons for KCET-TV's decision to go it alone from PBS, I must salute its awakening as a major civic resource, demonstrated by its decision to be the local conduit of Al Jazeera English at this historic turning point in the world.
This decision alone has redeemed KCET and demonstrated the value of an independent, flexible but still public-interest television station, which is able to react to world events and bring a desperately needed authoritative and alternative viewpoint to Los Angeles, which itself is now a city of the world that deserves more access to world media.
I hope that this is only the beginning.
KCET has thrown off the shackles of a sclerotic, dying network. It remains to be seen whether it can fulfill its tremendous potential as a voice of the people and reflect the unique diversity and dynamism of greater Los Angeles today.
But bravo for bringing us the Egyptian Revolution in all its glory - that's a start.

Curtis Horton, Pasadena"

Egypt Finally Gets What They Want

It has been a roller coaster ride kind of week, once again.

My station pre-empting so much programming to air Al Jazerra English News, that it was rare that we had our regular schedule at all. We even pre-empted the children's programming yesterday morning at 8:30AM. Not my favorite thing to do at all. The ratings are there and we are obviously providing a service, but I hate putting adult programming on a kids slot. We have been burned by that so many times before.

I hope that was the last of it and that the celebrating going on in Cairo brings them a better world then the one they fought so hard against.

But why am I nervous...

A Taste Of The Getty Artwork

I didn't take much in the way of photos of the artwork itself, mostly because you are not supposed to. But a few things got into my camera and thus, can be shown.

The first one is a photo of some sculptures out in the central area of the complex. I love the black and white contrast between the granite and the statuary. Very dramatic.

Don't ask me why that one sculpture has 3 scales of sculptures within it. Weird.




This second work is in the main reception area and it is called Woman (or something like that).



I again liked the contrast between the stark white wall and the black statue.


Onward to the third one.


I got in trouble for taking a photo of this one. Thankfully, he did not make me delete it from my camera.



It is a series of photos by Felice Benato, showing a panorama of Peking, China. I thought it was interesting, the way they put different photos together to make this panorama. Unfortunately, the guard saw me take the photo and yelled at me. Oops.

I hope you enjoyed a taste of the many areas of the Getty Center.

I enjoyed taking you around.

The Buildings At The Getty

Just a few photos that I took of some of the buildings around the complex. This very dramatic building is the south building. We caught this view as we made our way to the cactus garden. It overlooks Santa Monica, so I think that is why it is built the way it is.



The second photo is of the restaurant over on the far right as you enter. It has a lavender pergola along the side of it. As my son pointed out, one of the few colors that are found in the entire Getty Center.

There are many more buildings, but this gives a feel of both the front and the back of the complex.

The Cactus Garden At The Getty

I showed you some of the cacti the other day, but here is more of the Cactus Garden, over on the far left side of the complex.

What struck me as so unusual, was the color of the ground cover in the first photo and the color of the rock, in the second photo.




The cactus was brightly colored to begin with and then the contrast of colors made for interest that was pleasing to the eye. Of course the entire complex is pleasing to the eye, but maybe it was the uniform planting of the cactus that added to it. The small cacti are golden barrel, with colorful large yellow spines. From what I read, they tend to cluster together and if you saw the close up the other day, that is exactly what they did at this garden.

Points to my son for bringing me all the way to the end of the complex. I would have never found it on my own.

The Formal Garden At The Getty

The Formal Garden at the Getty Center were designed by Robert Irwin. You can read about it HERE.
It had just rained when we got back to the garden and so the dirt walkways were being closed as we entered. So I did not get to do the entire walk, but what I did see was quite amazing. There are wire "trees" at the front and plants climb up them. I am sure in the summer it must be stunning there, though as you can see, it was beautiful, even when we were there.







This second photo is as far into the area as I could get...in other words, not very far at all. I thought the walkway itself was pretty nice looking, with the formal plantings on either side. Note how the trees are all in their winter sleep phase. It is always good to see them take a few months off. :-)










This final shot shows how very muddy the dirt walkway was. You can see why they stopped me right were I was. I loved the rock though and decided to bother the Getty employee, by taking its photo.

By the way, according to my son (the know it all) the entire garden area is designed to look like a tree on the ground. I didn't realize it, but I trust he is right, as usual. :-)

Rock Fountain At The Getty

My Water Post For Today.

This week will be Getty Week and I will start it with the most dramatic fountain in the complex.

I did not look this up or anything, but my son and I both came to the same explanation of what those rocks in the water are. We think that they are sort of in the shape of animals. We didn't sit there and discuss, but after leaving the area, both of us mentioned that we thought that was the case. Sue us if we are wrong. lol

Enjoy the colors and the water, coursing down the rocks.

Welcome To Getty Center Week

Hi, I am Angel and I will be your host for Getty Week.

Yes, it is Superbowl Sunday. In case you care, we will be watching the game here at home this year. Being my team didn't make it, I am going to instead talk about my trip last week, to the Getty.

There was so much to see and experience, that I am going to take an entire week to show off some of the highlights.

Future posts will be about, the formal garden, the cactus garden (which you got a taste of last week), the buildings themselves (which you can see the layout of, down below), a taste of the artwork around the complex and of course, several fountains will be showcased in my Monday Water Posts.

If you are not into The Getty, I suggest you skip this week. :-)



This photo is of a really cool relief map of the entire complex. You begin at that building down at the bottom of the photo and work you way around the 5 other buildings. The artwork is on the second level of the buildings and they interconnect on that level. Otherwise, you go in and out of buildings on the lower level. You can also see the placement of some of the fountains I will be highlighting in future posts. The gardens are out behind the complex, on the hillside that the Getty is on top of. By the way, you can see Santa Monica Bay, off to the southwest.

Put on your walking shoes and enjoy the trip.

Egypt, From The Inside

As I mentioned yesterday, it has been a rough week with all our coverage of the situation in Egypt. To bring a human face to it all, this is a photo that a friend of mine sent. She got it from a mutual friend who we grew up with.

Now days, he lives in Cairo.

I definitely get the feeling that going outside was not his idea of a good time.

I hope he stays safe.

Al Jazeera English

When last we saw our intrepid TV person, she was involved in a simple State of the State program. Little did she know that not 18 hours later, she would fall into the whirlwind called Al Jazeera English. For those who are not aware, Al Jazeera (pronounced Al Jazira) is the English version of the Arabic-Language News Network. The troubles in Egypt caused Al Jazeera to be shut off in Egypt and so the only broadcast coming out of that area, is in English. We carry Megahertz Worldview and they added the show to their satellite feed on Tuesday and that is where we got it, along with some other International shows.
Since Los Angeles does not currently have anyone retransmitting Al Jazeera, we contacted a person who is currently working with us (and who has worked for them before), and with her calling her contacts, we got the rights to air their show direct. We started with just a half hour at 4P, with some other programs like IBA from Israel and Russian Television and it was quite an interesting news block. My guys both watched it.

Day 2 increased our load. We added an 11AM Al Jazeera feed and then got permission to go for a full hour direct from their satellite, from 4P to 5P (losing the Russians along the way) and an hour in Prime Time. The ratings did well and so last night we added another hour in Primetime with LIVE wraps around the show.
Live meant that, literally out of nowhere, I suddenly had to stay and man the Traffic system, for the last minute changes live things bring. May I say that I have not done something during a live production for over 20 years, so that was interesting. Good thing I brought the car with me, because I didn't get home til 10:30PM.
It was a long day and from what I heard yesterday afternoon, we will be doing a live panel discussion show tonight at 8PM.

Expect me to be manning that position again tonight.

I am TOTALLY looking forward to the weekend!

My Son At The Getty

For my son's photography class, he had to write a report on a piece of artwork at a museum. We have been down this path before, he and I. Last year we went to LACMA and found a photograph for him to discuss. This year, the moment we arrived at the Getty Center, he makes a decision. He has been there before and really isn't into the works themselves...but he loves the architecture of the building and the landscaping.

That is what he did the report on, the building...as art. Good choice, because after spending an hour or so walking around the complex, I am totally in love with it, too.

He tells me that his favorite part of the outside gardens, is the Cactus Garden, which I have never heard of.



When I ask him to take me there, he brings me all the way to the back hillside and yes, many, many cacti are living on the hillside.

It is very dramatic and I am glad he brought me back there.

I will post about the Center itself, another time. Oh and some waterposts, too. A wonderful place, that I was glad to spend a little quality time at...with my son.

Spring Has Arrived?

I hate doing this to the East Coast and of course, the Minnasota area, but it's that time of year again.

I don't know what the name of this tree is, but every year right around my birthday, it blooms. It is our own Punxsutawney Phil out here in the land of fruits and nuts. If the tree blooms, can spring be far behind?

I have mentioned the tree before and I still can't figure it out, but as reliable as the winter coming, this tree blooms. I took this photo where I pick up the bus in the morning and I thought it looked incredible with the pathway winding behind it. 2 points to the landscape designer, who chose that spot to plant the tree.

I hope you enjoy.

Rethink TV: Jerry Brown's State Of The State

Since we left PBS just 1 month ago, we have substantially changed how we do business.
One of the things that my station has implemented is a daily meeting between the departments that make things happen at our station. This is totally unprecedented and actually quite interesting. One person from my department tries to attend, to add input to the discussion of the day, as seen from the Traffic and Operations perspective. Last week we did a local followup to the President's State of the Union Address and it was received well, ratings wise, especially the follow up program. People in Los Angeles were hungry for a local view of national events. Flush on that success, we decided to pursue taking the feed of the Governor's State of the State address and adding some local perspective to it.
During the meeting, we made phone calls up to an executive, got the go ahead to make it happen and put the thing together logistically. Since we had just done the exact same thing, it was amazing how fast it all came together.
I was at work last night and got to watch some of the production in action. When I delivered the program log for tomorrow to Master Control, I sat down and watched from there for a bit and actually moved over to the Control Room, to see the madness in action, up close. It's always amazing that from chaos, come some very cool productions. I personally thought the Governor's speech was just what we needed to hear and though I had GREAT reservations voting for him, I think he might be good for California (this from someone who came to this state during his Governor Moonbeam days).
In case you are interested, here is the written State of the State Speech.
We repeated the entire show at 9PM and though I have no idea what kind of numbers it got, I appreciated having a chance to actually listen to the show and I hope others did too.

I am proud of what my station did last night.

We had a blurb in the Los Angeles Times saying that we were carrying the Speech, courtesy of Publicity.
We had web streaming going on and Twitter for comments via #kcetlive. This from our gurus in New Media.
We had a promo that ran for days courtesy of On Air Promotions and of course Traffic and Operations.
Obviously we had production crew and engineering crew making miracles happen, too.

I am not shy about saying that I hate the fact that we left PBS, but I see some real hope for us carving a niche for ourselves in this very crowded Los Angeles market and by doing that, serving our public.

I hope we can keep this up.