Shave and a Hair Cut, Two Bits

It was haircut day this week and I get a request from my son. "Can you order something for my friend, when he comes up to cut my hair?" "Yeah sure", I said. This is something that has evolved over time. When he needs to make an Internet purchase for Magic Tricks, he comes to me. I do the adult credit card thing, with a card that pays ME money back and it is done. Then, it's hair cut time. They go out back and start the process. I have only seen it happen once or twice, so it draws me outside to view it. Being they are not pros, the hair is lying all over my patio and as my husband said the first time it was done here, it looks like an animal met its demise back there. Big chunks of hair on the ground. Well, I can't resist and after spending a few seconds laughing to myself, I go and get the camera. Sneak to the side of the yard and snap a few shots of them in action. I don't know if my son is even aware that I got this picture, so enjoy.
Total for the afternoon: A credit of $17.95 on the hair cut, since his friend does this for free. Payment overcharge of $.10 on the order, $.30 cash back from my credit card company, for the order. Grand total: $18.35 savings.
Watching them in action? Priceless!

Not a bad haul at all.

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Trivia Quiz for the Suzanne Brockmann crowd.
What SEAL used the tune Shave and a Haircut and what did he use it for?

Answer: Kenny "Wild Card" Karmody had the natives set charges to that tune, to let his SEAL buddies know he was on the island.

The Best Laid Plans - Trucks, Planes and Rain, Don't Mix

Yesterday was supposed to be a day for me and my son to enjoy the Miramar Air Show together. Miramar used to be the air base that housed the "Top Gun" school that was captured so wonderfully (cue the song "Danger Zone") in the Tom Cruise movie "Top Gun". More then the air show, I was excited to see the base itself. Unfortunately for us, an overnight rainstorm passed through our area of the state, which brought conditions that might have had an effect on the Air Show. The final nail in the coffin was the fact that late night on Friday something like 15 trucks and cars collided inside the truck tunnel that snakes under the Golden State Freeway (I-5) in the middle of the Newhall Pass. This is the same pass that takes a major hit in Earthquakes and then cuts off my area of the world, from the greater Los Angeles area. I was willing to try to get out, but my son thought it all out logically and came to the conclusion that a marginal Air Show was not worth the huge unpredictible amount of time it was going to take to get by an inferno in the middle of the Newhall Pass. He checked out flying conditions in San Diego and nixed the entire days plans. Probably correctly, I might add. We went out on a local errand around 1PM and hit bumper to bumper traffic just around our neighborhoods, probably caused by the closing of the freeway. We quickly finished our errands and moved back to the safety and quiet of our home. We were supposed to drive over to Van Nuys today for his flying lesson, but that was canceled due to the plane being in for repair. A good thing in this case, because we don't know when life will get better for Newhall Pass travelers. Thank goodness I take the train to work. It's not going to be pretty on Monday.

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Photo is from
the Edwards AFB
Air Show in 2005

Coral Egan: Magnify

I have a Steely Dan Internet friend in Canada who turned me on to the music of a Canadian artist named Coral Egan.
It was back in 2004 that Coral came out with her second album and caught the attention of my friend. Being we share a love of the music of Steely Dan, he sent some "hints" my way, that this might be something I would be interested in. So I did indeed order her album, My Favorite Distraction and have enjoyed it these past 3 years. She has just released her third album, Magnify and again I have ordered a CD. The cuts I have had a quick listen to, seem to have a more Blues/Funky feel to them, but I have not heard the entire album and reserve judgement on the albums tone, until it is in my hands. No matter what, I intend to enjoy wherever Coral decides to take me.

In a kind of cool side note. My friend from Belgium who found out about Coral from the same Internet friend I did, actually designed and maintains her My Space page. If you are so inclined, please feel free to check it out.

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A note to add that I did receive Coral's album and it is so very different from My Favorite Distraction, but there are echoes of that album, in this new one. Like little nods to songs or something. It's wonderful and such a different experience from the 30 Seconds To Mars listening that I have been doing recently.
Outstanding cuts for me, right off the bat. Beginning, Talkin' to the Animals, Clean Up Time and Little While (with it's Joni Mitchell sound). It's nice to see her grow up. Her next one, now that she is a Mama, is probably going to be even better. Go Coral!

Acoustic...or Torque That Song Down a Notch

I know I have been going on and on about the band 30 Seconds to Mars and once again, apologies in advance to all who are sick of hearing about them. What I did want to bring to anyone who cares attention, is the fact that I added another You Tube entry over on the right side links. I put the first one up about a week or so ago and now a second one. They are both decent quality acoustic songs, that are much more torqued up on their album, A Beautiful Lie. These versions are stripped down, acoustic renditions and normally I am not an acoustic fan. Again, Jared Leto wins me over, due to the emotion he brings to these versions of the songs. The 2nd link, A Modern Myth, even has strings playing along, a very nice touch. Click the links on the far right side of the page and then you can listen and watch up at the very top of my webpage. Click the I am done watching, when you are through. It's that easy. Enjoy.

A Banana Grows in Hollywood

Now that summer is over, for the most part, my work has brought back the walking club that we had last spring. I used it for training, for the 3 mile CAN Walk at the Rose Bowl, back in April and enjoyed it. This time it seems group does a power walk for a half hour each day. In order to get some challenge to the walk, they have been bringing us up to this hill that reminds me of a street in San Francisco. The first week I looked at this hill and said, no thanks. Give me a few days to get back into this. So on Monday, I took the plunge and said let's do this thing. So we did and it was a pain, but no big deal. As we walked down the other side after cresting the hill, I see a banana tree with bananas on it. I couldn't believe it! A banana grows in Hollywood? So the next day, I stopped after we crested the hill and I took a few shots of the bananas. The only time I have ever seen a real banana tree, was on the road between Ventura and Santa Barbara. There used to be a grove of them with all sorts of varieties for sale to the public. It was a nice side trip on the road between the 2 cities and it's a shame the place is gone. I don't know why if left, but I suspect it is probably tied to the fact that right behind the property is a very unstable mountain in an area of the coast known as "La Conchita". It continuously falls during bad rain years and residents have been moving out, over time. I got the impression that bananas needed tropical weather and high humidity with lots of sun. These conditions are found near the coast and come close to the conditions they need to grow in. From what I saw the other day, I am obviously mistaken. In a land of citrus groves, fruit trees and avocados, it was a nice, interesting change. Next up, monkeys!

Kids Do the Darndest Things

This weekend, a friend of my son's turned up on Saturday evening. We weren't expecting him, when we left to go shopping. We come home and the fridge has already been raided and will continue to be, thoughout the evening. As it ends up, mostly ice cream and buffalo wings got taken, but it was still slightly unexpected. If I had known, I would have stocked the house with a few more provisions.
While he was here, we ended up with 4 computers and an Xbox 360 going, all at the same time. I had a calendar to make and that means I fire up the very old computer in the den. The guys had the others going, too, bouncing between things. It boggles the mind, what kids today can do, from a multitasking point of view. I finally left them at 10:30P and found in the morning that yes, one more ice cream had left our fridge after I retired for the evening. To be that young again...

In Service To Our Country

On Saturday evening, my husband and I had to run to a market we normally don't shop in. I will preface this with a comment that I don't remember when I was last there. It has been a while, so that might be why I had no knowledge that they had done this. So, we walk in the door and on the wall by the registers, is a wall of pictures of local servicemen and women. Local residents, currently serving our Country in the Military. Since my son has joined the JROTC, we are more in tune with the reality that sometime, these unknown people are going to be friends and JROTC buddies of our child. We have several who have joined up and are currently in basic, or training, but as of this date, not in the direct line of fire. Still, that possibility is very real to us. So being we know a few former cadets, we look at each picture and name and for the first time, yes, there is a former Cadet and very good friend of mine. Not just a friend of my son's, but someone who I had a friendship with. He is 2 years older then my son and he would make the videos that we would see at the Awards Banquet each May. Being he was interested in video and I work in television, we shared an obvious connection. When he spent his first semester of college in Hawaii, I was the one who he would occasionally email, sending pictures and messages our way. He joined the Army this summer and last I heard, he was in Basic Training. Seeing someone I know on that wall of heroes, gave me the chills. I send prayers and good thoughts his way and hope he makes it back to us all, OK. He is the first, but I am positive he won't be the last. Not a great thing to realize, but reality nonetheless.

The Unit Season 2 DVD - Review

I know, I know, I am totally obsessed with this show. You don't have to tell me. :-)

On September 25, The Unit Season 2 DVD came out. I was there at the store first thing, buying it. My day gig is television and I totally am sick of the stuff, when I get home at night. Can you say burn out? I knew you could.
The fact that I have made an exception with this show, a war show none the less, is quite unusual. The fact that I heard about and began watching this show, due to the recommendations from a romance board, should give you a hint that this show is special. Yes, they deal with the realities of todays war and there is lots of action for the war guys, but for once they deal with the realities of the families, who watch these guys just drop everything and leave them, without a word. Getting sent into a hot zone, time after time. How the wives and children deal with this is what hooked me and has hooked my family, good. I spent some time this week listening to the additional tracks on some of the episodes and I had some real laughs, when several members of the cast and crew talked about the conditions they had to shoot these episodes of The Unit in. The Unit is shot mostly around my home town, Santa Clarita. We are not known for our temperate climate. Being a lot of the mission episodes are outside in remote areas of our City, they end up with extremely HOT temperatures for the first 8 episodes or so, then a few that might actually be OK and then into the cold and possibly wet time of the year. To put it nicely, I don't envy them their day gig. So, I was watching this episode that was shot in September and it was supposed to be Siberia in the cold. They comment that they had to fake Ice (by using wax) and snow (by using soap bubbles). Wearing these hot coats and gloves. Did I mention that I don't envy them? The friendships the actors show off on these audio tracks, make it so worth the money to purchase the set. Being I have seen the programs multiple times, this, for me, is the new information. Did Bob really eat those grubs? Yep, about 6 of them and they are crunchy, without much taste. Was that a dummy he was pulling on the sled? Nope, Eric Haney said, "yeah, Scott Foley can pull the actress on the sled, he's strong enough" and thus, the dummy was not used. When Kim dropped to the ground with Teddy, was that a dummy? Nope, the real Teddy and quite a challenge for her. As a mater of fact, they mention that her worried expression was not about the bullets that were flying, but her concern that she would hurt Teddy as they fell. Lynn Mamet (a writer on the show) asks several of the actors if they have to work out to keep in shape for this show. Dennis Haysbert says, that yes they do and no he just doesn't have time to do so and she quips back that maybe he should quit his Allstate gig? :-)
The season has 23 episodes, so there is a lot there, for your money, since the episodes are all first rate. Add in laughs along the way, on the audio track and it's even better. It also has a "Making of" segment that runs almost 45 minutes. Lots of Santa Clarita locations turn up there, which makes this resident happy. Check it out.

Learning To Fly - 34 Right

My son had a pilot exam last week, so there was no flying on the agenda. This week they are back in the cockpit, with a new piece of business. Winds were from the north and so the runways were running opposite to what we are used to. So they moved out of the hanger area and immediately began their take off within feet of me, on runway 34 right. This is the same runway they normally use, but it is called 16 left normally and they usually have to taxi for the better part of a mile to get to the beginning of it. Not so in this situation, so I was getting some really nice, different pictures this time. Since this is such an unusual situation, the teacher decides he wants my son to practice this opposite pattern work, so they do an hour of Touch and Goes. I shot many of them and had a nice time doing something just a bit different. Thankfully, the winds were not too strong and they had no real problems. Due to the wind, the valley was, once again, beautiful, which made it even nicer. With luck, next week we will attend the Miramar Air show on Saturday and he will fly on Sunday.

The Floor - Final Entry

Since I have gone on and on about this floor, I thought I would give you a quick look at the finished product. I still need to paint the molding and cabinets, but for now, we have a floor. Hubby and I both like it and that's all that matters.

Los Angeles Union Station

I have mentioned before that since I commute by train, I pass through Los Angeles Union Station, while I transfer to the Metro Red Line Subway. We don't get into the main concourse of the building, mostly the tunnel and the edge of the concourse. Monday I ended up working late and so I got to the station much later then I normally do and I was early for my train. So I decided to pick up a bite to eat and that meant that I walked through the concourse to get there.
Union Station was built in the 1930's and it is probably the most beautiful station I have seen.
Done in the Art Deco style it has a beautiful wood ceiling, mosaic tiles on the wall and stunning chandeliers for lighting. Many movies have been shot in this historic building and you can just feel the vibe as you walk around. It is especially lovely at Christmas, decorated in lights and a huge tree.
Many holiday parties are held in the old ticket counter area off to the side of the concourse. They normally leave that section closed and only use it for the parties.
That way business goes on as usual, as people who are dressed to the nines, mingle and enjoy their evening.
The main area has huge brown high back chairs, again in the Art Deco Style and the room is just full of people waiting for their trains. Lots of noise and the bustle of activity is always going on.
I have found that it is so worth the expense of riding some form of public transportation, just to enjoy that which is, Union Station. A real gem and a must see for any Angelino.

Child's Play or Barbie's at 20 Paces

A few days ago I spent some time with the daughters of a friend of mine. As I have mentioned before, I raised a son and as such, daughters are somewhat a mystery to me. The children are 5 and 3 and it was a real treat to not only see them interact with me and their Mom, but it was so cool to see them interact with each other and with themselves. I had forgotten how totally obsessed we women are with role playing via dolls and such. The younger one reminded me of that almost immediately after meeting her. She found a table with little duckies on it and right off the bat, she grabbed 2 of them and had them face to face, having some sort of child/duckie conversation. I fell in love, right there. Fantasy, make believe, acting out our own feelings and actions, it all came back to me. When I was young, we used to have Barbie's. Each girl had a dream house set up in our back yard. We would play dreamhouse by ourselves and when the mood struck us, we would go visit another person and her dream house. I can still picture myself under the shade of a Red Maple tree in our back yard, whiling away a hot summer in the late 60's, doing just that.

It was so nice to be reminded of some of my younger days, days that I don't remember with anything but fondness.
In regard to the children? They were a total blast and are welcome back, anytime. What a treat to experience and to remember.

Floor Part 4 or OMG, My Hands Are Killing Me!

The floor is now gone. It took longer then I expected, but we are now down to the original concrete in our kitchen. When we decided to purchase our house some 22 years ago, it was a home that had fallen out of escrow. We decided to purchase it and due to the fact that it was originally sold to someone else, it was already basically done and sitting empty, when we went into escrow. We did pick out the carpet and linoleum for the house, but it was not yet installed, when we stopped in and did a walk around one day. As we walked through the house we saw that there was a crack in the concrete that went right through the kitchen. Picking up the floor today, there was the crack we remembered, but surprisingly, it was no worse then it had been all those years ago. I had some fear that the Northridge Earthquake may have made it even worse, but that doesn't seem to be the case. A good thing, that makes me happy. That was about the only thing that made me happy today. My hands hurt from all the scraping and I am real tired, but we survived it and now we are ready for Friday's install.

The Kitchen Floor, Take 3

I took today off again to deal with the never ending task of dealing with the kitchen floor. Who knew a simple project like this was going to become such a big deal. So today we strip the old floor off and see the concrete we haven't seen in 22 years. Hubby and I are almost never home together, so it should be an interesting day. Friday they will come again to try to install it and hopefully we will get the roll of linoleum off my floor in the living room. Talk about taking over an entire room, but I am thankful that we had a place to put it. I am sure people who do home projects are used to all this, but it's new to me. What a way to spend a day off.

That's What Friends Are For

A final word on the Fall Festival at St. Andrew's Abbey. In one of those strange coincidences of life that make you indeed think of a higher being, I had a very strange thing happen to me. I made arrangements to meet up with an internet friend from the old Max Martini board. She lives in Victorville and I in Los Angeles. So we decided to meet in the middle, in the midst of the Antelope Valley. We said to each other, when you get there, call me. We the modern cell phone types figured there would be service and all would be well. When I arrived at around 12:30P, I did indeed have good cell phone reception and gave my friend a call. I immediately was sent to her voice mail, so figuring she was driving or something, I left a message. After waiting almost half an hour in the parking lot, watching the cars come in, I decided to start looking at the fair. So I began checking the thing out, the booths and displays, with my cell on vibrate. Nothing. So I called again and got that voice mail. Hmmmm, she should be here by now. Did she have an accident? One of the kids sick? So I continue checking out the fair for another hour and finally bought a snack and sat down. Finished it off and made another call. Another call gets the same result. So I leave another message saying to call me no matter what, just so I know she is alive and well. Then I head down the hill to where many paths converge and I get a tap on the shoulder. It is my friends from Phoenix. They are the couple whose daughter got married at the Phoenix Zoo just 3 weeks ago. She tells me that I had parked my car right next to her car! I did? Her's is white and in LA, there are a million white cars, all within a mile radius of your position at any time, where as my car is a beautiful dark color. Much more obvious, I guess. So she checks out the plate (I have a custom plate), the license frames on both front and back and she goes to her husband, yep, that's her car all right. So even though they were on their way out, they walked back to the fair and stood where the paths come together, to wait for me. Obviously, they were successful. These people are the ones who turned on my husband to the Fall Festival, back in the 70's and the last time they had been there was with him (all together now) back in the 70's. They lived in LA from after the guys got out of the service, to somewhere in the mid 70's, almost a decade and from what I hear they were the 3 Musketeers, hanging together and exploring whatever LA had to offer. They were tight and that tie has never left them. A good thing for us, true friends are hard to come by. Anyway, so there we are talking for about 20 minutes and I tell them I was looking for someone else and hey, why didn't you call me on my cell? They say to me that there is no cell service here. Say what? I have cell and I even called my son at home to double check it. Nope, I am incorrect, my service provider has cell coverage (yay team) but others don't. So off they go and I am back to reevaluating the situation. My friend has 2 young kids, so I go to the children's area and they are not there. So I head back to exactly where my friends waited and I look and I look and about 2 minutes later, there comes my friend and her daughters. It was 2 1/2 hours later, but we managed to connect and have a good time too. Thanks to whoever brought me to my friend's car, made them see it and made them connect up with me, to give me the cell phone information. Higher being? Who knows...but I am grateful for both miracles of the day.