Downtown Burbank Station

This was the evening before Thanksgiving.

I refuse to drive on that day.
The pass at the top of the San Fernando Valley, not only has to deal with commuters going home, it needs to deal with all those leaving town for the 4 day weekend. So instead, I caught a bus to Burbank Station, to meet up with my son.

It was around 6:30PM when I took these photos, as I waited for the train to arrive.

There were only a few people on the platform, waiting for this normally full train.

Most people had gone home, many hours earlier.

Burbank Station uses neon and glass to great effect.

It is done in homage to the Art Deco style of the 30's.

The elevator especially utilizes that style.

In the second photo, you can see it as the lit object, among the trees.

As you can see in the first shot, the Burbank sign is huge, in all its neon glory.

Shinning so bright and so welcoming.

The third photo shows off my favorite part of riding the rails...the rails themselves.

I love the solitude, especially on the tracks.

When I used to wait at Glendale Station, I found that many a night I would sing Bruce Springsteen's "Downbound Train".

The lights, the mist, the ending of the rails...off in the distance.

It has always spoken to me.

I hope you enjoyed the visit.

A Journey To Endeavour

I wrote about the arrival of Endeavour a few months ago. I saw it in the AIR a few months ago and the day it was pulled through the streets of Los Angeles, I mentioned it in passing, HERE.

Since it was my Husband's birthday weekend, we decided to go see the Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center, in Exposition Park.

We had just been in that area a few months ago, when we rode the new Expo Line. One of the stops is right there. We ended up picking up my Husband's brother and took the Red Line subway over to the Expo Line. All told, about a 35 minute trip. We originally wanted to see it on Friday, but both Friday and Saturday were booked solid, so we dealt with the final day of the 4 day weekend, Sunday.

It was not required, but strongly encouraged that we take in an IMAX film, also. So we did so, to get our free passes to view the shuttle.

They let us in early and the best part, they allowed us to wander around at will. No rushing through the room with the shuttle, you can stop and take photos and no one bothers you. We must have spent a half hour in the room with Endeavour. It is well lit, as you can see and they have plaques of each mission of every space shuttle.

The most interesting part, for me, were the tiles on the bottom of the shuttle. Each one is numbered, as you can see. They are quite spectacular in person. Knowing how much heat they have deflected, keeping the crew alive, while they reenter Earth's atmosphere, is just remarkable. We heard from a person who dealt with the tiles, that they kept books on each one of them. The history of the tile and of course, when they switched them out for a new one.

All in all, a fun end to our Thanksgiving holiday.

======================================

By the way, this was the third Space Shuttle I have personally seen.

You can read about Columbia HERE.

The first shuttle. The one that never flew, Enterprise, is HERE.
Note that since I wrote this post, Enterprise has moved up to New York and Discovery is now at Udvar-Hazy.

Pumpkin Pie With A Vodka Pie Crust

I have become an "America's Test Kitchen" fan.

Since I have spent the past 6 or so months monitoring the stations Closed Captions, I see this show every day, along with their other show, "Cook's Country From ATK". I don't understand the difference between the two shows, but the science they use to modify the recipes, is the same.

One of their big differences, is in cooking a pie crust.

The problem with pie crust from scratch is getting just the right amount of water, so that when you roll the dough, it comes together. It is very driven by the days humidity and thus, not science.

What they do, is use vodka for part of the water in the recipe. You say to yourself, what does that do? Well, due to the alcohol evaporating off, during the cooking process, the crust is very moist when handled and rolled out, but it disappears during the cooking of the pie. This causes the crust to be nice and flaky, instead of doughy or hard.

I generally don't eat pie crust, for just that reason. So I decided to try it out.

The result was indeed a flakier pie crust that I did like to eat. It got harder and doughy as the days passed, but that first day was definitely a better pie crust.

I plan on making a pie called Pizza Dulce, sometime in my future, since I have the second crust left over in the freezer.

Cook's Illustrated's Foolproof Pie Dough

Ingredients

serves one 9-inch double-crust pie ,

2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon table salt

2 tablespoons sugar

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces

1/4 cup cold vodka

1/4 cup cold water

Procedures

Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

WTOP In Action

Oops, I lied yesterday. Here is the last post about Oswego. It got moved out of position, when I added the one about Makenna.

While I was up in Oswego, I got to watch WTOP (the campus TV station) in action.

These photos bring back so many memories of similar things that I was a part of. As a matter of fact, when I was a student, I did a photo montage for my photography class. It was a behind the scenes look at a show called "The Weekly Report". I still look at those photos and laugh. We were so young and inexperienced. :-)

This first photo is the crew directing the show. It was a multi-camera feed of the action taking place before the Media Summit. An "On the Red Carpet" type event.

In this second shot you can see that yes, they even have a red carpet!
It shows the talent interviewing the creator of the Media Summit...Lou Borelli. He and I went to school together, lo those many years ago.

I came to the Summit, because I have always wanted to attend one and the subject matter this time seemed so very interesting to me.
I was right, by the way. It majorly kicked butt.

Great job Lou.

The final shot is of the hosts of the show, filling in while new guests are getting ready to be interviewed on the air.

It was quite professional and I am totally thrilled at the quality of the equipment and the talent of the media professionals who are current students in Oswego's Communications program.

It was the best place to grow a career, then and it still is now.

You make me proud, every day.

Glimmerglass And The Dorms

My Water Post For Today.

This will be my last Oswego post, moving forward. Well, minus the 5 more water posts I mentioned last week.

This is Glimmerglass Lagoon, in the very front of the campus. It separates the original campus from new campus. Now days, I think they refer to them as West Campus, Center Campus and East Campus. These buildings would be on West Campus.

The lagoon is beautiful, but it does attract geese and when you have them around, they make major messes in the grass. Always a challenge to take a photo around this water...but for you, I did. :-)

I hope you enjoy it's beauty, on this lovely fall day.

So Where Is Dinner?

This was Thanksgiving at our house.

As I mentioned before, we were just the three of us...and the cat.

The guys basically left me to do my cooking thing, but the cat watched me, all day.

The photo was taken around 4PM and you could see Makenna really wanted to know, what was taking the food so long to arrive.

She got canned. I am not stupid.

A Very Happy Birthday To The Man In My Life

He is 70 years old today.

Born during WWII, he was the entertainment for his family, in those dark, dark days...or so I hear.

When he visited his families deli in Chicago, they would mess up the stacks of cans, just to watch him straighten them out. Thankfully for me, one of his older cousins is still alive and tells me these stories, so I get a glimpse of the child my husband was.

I came to know him late in his life. He was 36 when we met and I was 24. Thankfully, I never had a single doubt that he was the man for me (my Mother did, but not I).

He had lived an entire life before I arrived, Childhood, HS, College, Military Service during the Vietnam War and 9 years working, after that service. He had friends who meant the world to him and I had to pass inspection, before I could marry him. :-)

Do I regret those lost years with him...sometimes, but maybe that is why our marriage has managed to make it these 32 years. He had a full life, ahead of "our" life.

No matter what, he has reached a huge milestone and I for one, am very proud of him.

Happy Birthday lover...and many more.

===================
Photo:
Taken at the Mall
of America, earlier
this year. He's
a Peeps fan.

Stevenson Ranch Got Signage? Seriously?

Many years a go, a developer named Dale Poe built a community on the left side of the I-5 Freeway. He called it Stevenson Ranch and he refused to have anything to do with the new City of Santa Clarita, just beginning, on the other side of the freeway.

He has been dead for decades, but the mess he created, continues. The latest thing I saw, is that road signs have been added to that area, to match ours in the SCV. They are not as pretty as ours, but they carry the seal of Los Angeles County. I don't know where the money came from, but considering how huge Los Angeles County is, I am sure they really could have used that money for something a bit more important...like sidewalk or street repair.

The ultimate goal is to keep the residents from voting themselves into the City of Santa Clarita. If that happens, all the income from those tax payers would be lost, as would the income from The Valencia Marketplace (which includes the first Walmart in our area).

There has always been much confusion over the years, especially in regard to sports, activities and of course, our schools.

I wish they would become part of The City of Santa Clarita, since it would make life so much easier for all residents of this valley.

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Yes, it is Thanksgiving once again.

We are not going anywhere or doing anything, that I am aware of.

Honestly, that is just fine by me. We spent 7 years where my Husband had to work Black Friday. This will be quiet, but it will be yummy, I am sure.

I wish those who read my blog a blessed Thanksgiving and hope that you get a chance to be with your family or friends.

Enjoy this time and make some memories.

The Roof Cam

It is a pretty impressive thing, that we installed onto the top of our 14 story building.

We call it the roof cam and as most of the other TV Stations in LA have done, we point it out toward the local freeways in the Burbank area.

I personally find it fascinating to watch. The traffic moves along, during the day and the clouds move along too.

The real fun happens when other things pass by. Like birds and bugs and planes. It is never dull and sometimes I realize several hours have gone by without me monitoring the station.

Oops, I had better turn it back to regular programming. :-)

Integrated Media

While I was in Oswego a few weeks ago, I made an appointment to see the Dean of the Department of Communications Media and the Arts (formerly the Communications Studies Department). I did not have Fritz as a teacher, but he came to the school, shortly after I left. As a matter of fact, many others who I went to school with had him as an instructor. He graduated a few years ahead of me, so I missed him on both ends of my college life. A shame, because he is quite a bright and interesting person.

I have sworn on this blog and other places, that I refuse to go back to school. Those MBA degrees especially keep hitting me up. I consider many of them to be a colossal waste of my money. Well, I guess that pride comes before the fall, because Fritz and I talked at length about a Masters Degree certificate that was attracting me. It is called Integrated Media and it will only be 16 credit units. It integrates Art, Computer Science and Communications, into a seamless whole...and I may end up taking it.

Things are not totally settled yet, but I did sign up as a non-degree student, which will allow me to take up to 9 of those credits, without having to sign onto the degree. The first course I plan on taking, is totally online. I know of at least 1 more class that I can also do online. After that, I am not sure, but some options are taking equivalent courses out here in LA and transfer them over, or going during a summer session on my vacation.

I talked with the head of my New Media Department here at work and he is all for allowing me to work with them, doing projects for independent study.

Lots of love and support from so many areas. I look forward to getting this going.

My Personal Best Shot Of Lake Ontario

My Water Post For Today.

I recently spent 4 days in Oswego, New York. I have shown you this area before, but since I actually had so many days, I took many, many photos of the Lake itself and the surrounding area.

I am going to start a small series, of water shots from the Upstate area of New York.

This one is right on the lake, by the "New Campus" dorms. Of course those dorms are almost 50 years old, but hey, they will always be the new campus to me. :-)

I love how totally clear the water is. If you look close you can even see the rocks under the water, by the shore.

I hope you enjoy.

Holiday Hocus Pocus At The Festival Of Trees 2012

My Magic Son invited my family to an event he was a part of. It was a fundraising event for the Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club.

They have decorated trees that are up for auction and events, to raise money. You can see the flyer for the show, HERE.

My Husband beat me to the event, but we did manage to hook up, just in time for the show. It ended up that my Magic Son bookended the event. He was the first act up and the last one.

He did a great scarf trick, culminating in a huge American Flag unfurling. So appropriate and such a wonderful surprise.

He is Vice President of this organization and I believe this was the first event, he was a part of.

It was good to see him.

Gingerbread Latte

For the past several holidays, my boss has given me a free drink at Starbucks.

It has become quite the tradition and I totally enjoy the seasonal drink, Gingerbread Latte.

When I was in New York the other day, I was situated at a gate at the airport that had a Starbucks. I was charging my phone and so I did not want to move from my primo spot...but there was a Gingerbread Latte calling my name. I knew it was there, because last Christmas I took my bosses $5 gift card and registered it. That gave me a free drink on my birthday and I figured, what the heck, I get a lot of junk mail that doesn't give me a free drink. It has actually given me more then just a free drink, I believe I will have about 3 free drinks this year. Well worth the occasional email.

So now I get email updates and one had been in my in-box just the day before, announcing it was Red Cup time. I managed to put 2 and 2 together and figure out that this means Holiday Drinks have arrived. Woot!

So I finally think to mention to another person charging their phone, to make sure mine doesn't get taken, while I go to Starbucks and just like that, I was in seasonal heaven.

Yay Starbucks!

Long Island

It has been two weeks since I returned home, from my "vacation" on Long Island.

As one who lived through Sandy, I knew the area of my birth would not recover quickly. We still hear stories of LIPA not getting the power back on, to all the customers. Of course, the ones in the hardest hit areas of the South Shore of Long Island may never get their power back.

I feel for them all.

Much love their way.