Some Art At The Gold Line

I promised the other day, that I would eventually show off a little bit of the Gold Line art.

I will begin with the hardest one to photograph, the Indian Basket that is on either side of the flyover bridge. The track is in the middle of a freeway and in order to get the track out from the center of the 210 Freeway, they made a huge bridge, that flies over the eastbound lanes.

On my 4th photo, 2 on the way outbound and 2 on the way inbound, I finally got this one, that shows off about half the basket.

It was the best I could do.

You get the idea. It is made of concrete, but pretty impressive. Especially the texture.

If you would like to see a dramatic photo of the completed bridge, click HERE.

The next piece of artwork is this lovely bench with mosaic tiles embedded in it.

Azusa/Citrus station is the location of this bench and other mosaic benches.

The station is the current "end of the line" for the Gold Line and serves 2 college campuses.

I thought the bench was beautiful.

Hopefully the students do, too.

By the way, when we were at the Azusa station, we had to get out and swipe our TAP Card, in order to make the return trip.

Of course, I was afraid that the train would leave, before I got out and swiped my card, but we had no problem with time.

This third photo is of the transit plaza immediately adjacent to the Arcadia Station.

Arcadia is where Santa Anita Racetrack is located and some of the artwork actually showcases horses.

The fencing, a large wind vane and the benches all convey the horse theme.

The most famous horse to race at Santa Anita, by the way, was Seabiscuit (he raced in 1940).

There is also a wonderful park called the L.A. Arboretum. I am not sure if you can get transportation to there, but it would be a shame if you could not.

The park is best known for its Queen Anne Cottage that starred in the open to a show called Fantasy Island.

I hope you enjoyed a taste of the Art of the Gold Line.

Southern Smoke BBQ And Brew Restaurant

Old Town Newhall is an area of my city, that has always been under redevelopment. It is the original settled area, right next to the railroad tracks. Over the years, a more or less western theme has been identified and so the storefronts on Main Street, have been coming around, as able and changing their fronts.

As new businesses lease some of the stores, they start with a store front that is approved by the city.

Such is the case of the Southern Smoke BBQ and Brew Restaurant.

I had to get a gift card the other day and so I visited this brand new business.

It has a nice frontage, with tables surrounded by a fence. Not western, but clean looking.

I was impressed with it. Then I walked in.

The business is just so tiny. They have a mirror right by the restrooms in the back, to make you think that there is another room back there. Of course, there is not.

They have a full bar that is the length of the side of the restaurant and then tables on the other wall. That is it.

Thankfully, they just leased the store right next to them, so by the end of the year, they should have double the space.

My friend (the man in charge of the van pool) loves it and told me that if you want a seat, you have to get there at something like 3PM.

Otherwise, the wait can be hours.

When I was there, it was empty (of course it was 9AM on a weekend).

The menu looks good and I hope sometime to drag my Husband to the restaurant, since I love BBQ.

Glad to see Newhall getting some love.

A Clock Lives In Newhall

This is a clock. :-)

It was just put up a few weeks ago, in Old Town Newhall, by members of the Rotary.

I knew it was somewhere, but I was not actually looking for it and so I had no idea it was right across the street from the restaurant I was going to.

I didn't think much of it, when I read about it but it really is a nice clock.

They say it is powered by the atomic clock, so that the time is always correct.

The Rotary put it up, so that members can comment that they can meet at the clock.

The article can be seen (hopefully) HERE.

EcoCar Update: So What's Going On With The Camaro, This Past Month?

First off: I have collected these photos, over the past month or so..

As expected, life in the angel house has become less than predictable.

My son spends most of 6 days a week at school, going to class Monday to Thursday and taking Saturday to recharge his personal battery.

Every other free minute, he is down in the garage, working on EcoCar.

It has gotten to the point that he does not even talk much, he is just so tired and wrung out. I feel for him.

General Motors, as the organizer of this competition, have a vested interest in the kids, who are working on their Camaros.

In a nice thing, GM sent the teams pizza for Pi Day (3/14).

You can see them digging in and I know for a fact that pizza is not my son's favorite food...but as he said, it was free food and they could eat and get back to work.

Several times I have baked for them and I have a feeling I will be continuing to do that for another week or so.

This is a photo of my son cutting a hole out in the trunk, for the installation of the batteries.

Much of the car body is red tagged and so they can not touch it.

Obviously the trunk is an exception to that rule.

I believe the batteries will be in a cage that they made.

It will somehow fit in the trunk of the car.

This last photo was taken at 3:30AM on 4/26.

The electrical system had to be in place and tested on the car itself. A 20 hour day for my son and members of the team. According to what little I heard, it got done and he arrived home at 4:15AM and crashed. He was truly wiped.

Even the car leaving day has been moved up.

It was supposed to be on 5/10 and now it is 5/5 at 9AM.

The car goes to the Yuma Proving Grounds, to be tested on the track and then competing against each other for things like how fast the car breaks and other measurements.

May 16th they leave.

Steely Dan At New Orleans Jazzfest & Update On The Bowl

The Dan Who Knew Too Much Tour 2016 has begun.

They did a soft open up in Port Chester, New York and now they have played at New Orleans Jazzfest. This photo was taken at Jazzfest last Saturday. Seriously, I have never seen Donald Fagen look so cool. Several reviews of the concert seem to indicate a good time was had by all.

They will round out the first leg of the tour with another 4 dates and that will be it til June.

In good news, for me. The Hollywood Bowl date finally got a pre-sale and I managed to purchase 2 tickets in the nose bleed section of The Bowl, on Friday.

They are end seats, which makes my Husband and I happy and the total came to Just over $100.

Opening night, Fireworks and The Dan. I am not expecting anything unusual, music wise, but the vibe will be different.

What a night it will be!

Veteran's Historical Plaza Fountain

My Water Post For Today.

I had to run an errand in Old Town Newhall on Sunday and so after I finished my errand, I took a quick walk to our Veteran's Historical Plaza.

I was initially disappointed to see homeless people hanging around our sacred space, but I did manage to get a photo of our fountain, where they were not hanging around.

There are actually two of these fountains in a very small space. Well thought out and pretty.

I hope you enjoy.

Uplifting The Sad And Sorrowful

I am in Church, most days, as a matter of fact.

I go during my lunch hour, to get myself out of the office and to spiritually revive me. It has worked out well and I miss it when work gets in the way of my personal time.

Being I have made it through the first 2 weeks after Easter, the flowers that have graced the altar area are undergoing changes. The lilies that you see in this photo, have been slowly dying. The orchids (on the other hand) have stood the test of time and are still hardy soldiers, gracing the altar of the Church, even to this day.

For such a small congregation (usually around 10 of us), they go out of their way to decorate the space. It has been lovely and I have fully enjoy the experience.

I have taken a few photos of the altar area, during this season of Lent and Easter, but it was the soaring ceiling, raising the faithful's prayers to God, that got me on this particular day.

I would love to know who built the Church, because they did an outstanding job.

A worship space that uplifts the sad and sorrowful.

An Update On My Sister's Life

What do you say when the people you love, are suddenly set adrift by this economy?

That is the situation with my sister and brother-in-law.

They have been hanging on for the past few years, but now we have no idea how they will survive, since he is out of work as of yesterday.

There was an article that appeared in the local NY paper, Newsday, on March 6th of this year. You need to be a subscriber to read it, but in case you are, HERE is the article.

We have hopes that some things might be be possible, since my brother-in-law just turned 62, but he does not want to touch Social Security until his full retirement age. Unfortunately, circumstances may not make that an option.

A few prayers for good outcomes, would be nice.

In other news:

In spite of all the uncertainty, my sister will be scootering around Jones Beach this year, on May 21st. The Long Island Chapter of the MS Society has their yearly fundraiser and she is accepting contributions.

You can find her personal page HERE.

Some Quail Came For A Visit

This happened a week or so ago, on a Sunday morning.

I posted a photo of them on Facebook, but I am finally getting around to showcasing it here on my blog.

I am happily chopping things for a recipe and when I happened to glance out my kitchen window, I see quail.

Not just one quail, but at least 5 quail. All big quail, fat looking quail, with the crest of feathers on the top of their heads.

I was just hoping they were not pregnant or anything, since I did have a situation where a mama quail put her crop of babies in a hole we had dug, for our pond. A cat or something, made short work of them all.

Thankfully, they disappeared as fast as they appeared and I have not seen any since.

I still shake my head...quail, who would have thought they would hang around a suburban neighborhood like this.

Did a quick wiki check and it says the quail usually hang around with several other quail in a group called a covey. They may not even be related, so it states. You can read more, HERE.

Meh, What A View

I am usually asleep in the van, though some things give me hints that it is time to get a move on and start waking up.

One of those things is this view, as we crest the train overpass on the I-5 Freeway.

The buildings that you can see, off in the distance, are the high rises of the Media District. Including, my building (the blue one), The white Disney Channel building that houses the office of the main van pool driver and the black (currently empty) tower building right next to the Disney Channel building. All three buildings are owned by Jeffrey Worthe, my landlord.

What also gets my attention, is the billboard that so nicely says how all of us are feeling, as we are getting closer to our place of business. MEH (expressing a lack of interest or enthusiasm).

I laugh every time I see it.

Rediscovering Gold

My Husband and I had to drive over to Pasadena, the other day. We decided that since we were close to the Gold Line, we would find a parking space by a station and take a ride on the new 11 mile section of the track.

We got a space at the end of the line, Sierra Madre Villa station. It has a huge structure and we had no trouble getting a parking place.

We had a very nice trip East and though we knew quite a bit of the area, there were new things to see.

Especially when the cities put in public spaces that surround some of the stations.

Parks and stores, apartments and artwork. It was all good in my book.

Interesting things to see and experience.

I may show off some of the artwork, at a later date.

Especially the bridge over the 210 Freeway.

Henry's Latest

I work with an incredibly talented collegue. He works in the Content Production area (formally New Media).

We have been friends for years and I mentioned his work on a post that you can read, HERE.

His latest work is shown in this photo, with the artist sitting at his cubie. The artwork itself is a man sitting under a tree, with lots of things hanging on the branches of the tree.

A few things, like the whiskey barrel hanging on a chain, Henry made on his 3D printer. He knows I understand 3D printing, so he pointed this out to me.

The man is just so multi-talented, I am amazed almost every day.

As if making this sculpture isn't enough, he is drawing all sorts of comics right now on his Facebook page. You can probably check some of them out HERE.

Truly a privilege to work with Henry.

Lake Ontario...In Watercolor

My Water Post For Today.

I found this photo of Lake Ontario a few months ago and I have left it up on my desk top, to someday (possibly) paint.

It has this look of paint, rather than the harshness of a photo.

I love the little light house, off in the far distance, and those clouds.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

A Gift From My Son & An Acceptance To Grad School

It has been a big week, in the Angel House.

The first thing to happen was that my son sent my Husband and I (under the Facebook category of "Parental Units") a message. He suggested that since he got a huge tax return from the Feds and State, since he is no longer able to be our dependent, that he would like to buy us a gift.

I was stunned. Truly. The world has turned.

He had a couple of ideas, but we decided that the house really needs a new microwave and since that would be something we would use every day, he agreed to look into it and make suggestions.

He ended up choosing this one and after checking the reviews and such, we decided to go for it.

It arrived this week and we connected it up on Saturday (his only day off).

We like the brushed steel look of it and it has an inverter involved in the cooking. It is supposed to not have as many "hot spots" in the food as you are heating it. We will see if that holds true, under normal heating situations.

So after all this was put in motion, we got another message from him on Wednesday.

It was a copy of his email from Cal State Univ L.A., saying that his school has accepted him into their Grad School to get his Masters in Electrical Engineering.

That comes with a $10 thousand dollar raise, beginning immediately.

To say the least, we are very happy and very proud.

The Office In Its Current Configuration

My office has lost person after person, since we moved in here in April of 2012. Please note that we never did fill in the 40 desks in our small area.

Each time I think it can't get any lonelier than it is, another one disappears...the last 2 were let go, just a month ago.

There are several people missing from their desks, when I took the photo. On air promos is rarely there. Both of them are in edit bays, though their boss is with us daily.

We have one pledge person left, currently two programmers, though one of them is temp. We have an assistant for two people and another assistant for my boss. We have just one IT person and a part time one who also does the mail and is facility manager. We have one scheduling person left and she goes on vacation quite often, since she bought a house in Oregon. Us three in traffic are still there. Two technical engineers sit next to us, though the one who runs the transmitter, is usually out on the road, doing maintenance on something. One production manager and one facility sales person, who also is picking up some production management.

Total positions in our cubies...17.

Total positions when we moved in...32.

Total loss in 4 years...15.

It is sad, though they keep thinking of moving some of us together and renting space on our 6th floor...or something. I personally don't think that day will come, but who knows.