Disappearing Moon

I camped out on Mulholland tonight to watch the eclipse. It was definitely a gamble as it had been cloudy and gray all day and it was supposed to rain for most of the rest of the week. We were, however, supposed to be given a reprieve in the form of a small window of partly cloudy skies tonight. In a stroke of luck, that window of time arrived right as the moon was rising and the clouds didn't start rolling back in until the eclipse started waning.

I found a great little spot off of Mulholland where I not only had a perfect view of the moon's path across the sky, but I also had an amazing view of downtown, the Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood sign and a clear shot to the ocean while the light lasted. It doesn't get more LA great than that.

I've never seen an eclipse before...what a fun show. I do know that the moon is round, but I never knew it could look quite so orb shaped from earth. It was very cool. There was a nice little group of folks taking pictures. A good time was had by all, at least until security showed up to run us out. Turns out the park closed at 6, but just like the luck of the perfectly timed break in the weather he didn't show up until the eclipse was almost over and the clouds were just starting to roll back in.

You can check out all of my eclipse pictures here. (I really need a better lense)

Truthfully, the cold was worth braving just for the shots I got of downtown.

I've never seen this in LA before

They actually broke in telling people to get into their basments in Malibu...seriously, who in LA has a basement?

Writers make for entertaining picket lines.

The WGA strike has been all the buzz around town. You can't drive anywhere near a studio these days without spotting a picket line.

These two clips pretty much sum up why I support the writers in this fight...and also why I never miss The Daily Show or The Colbert Report.

http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/

One man's trash...

Helping out with my Mom's garage sale. It's probably a bad sign when your goal mid-day is to cover the cost of the ads.

Is it just me or do you smell smoke?

I'm starting to think that the only time I get around to posting these days is when something irritates me or when something is burning down. What can I say, I guess I get easily distracted... oooh look something shiny.

As with everyone in Southern California (or perhaps the country) I have been a bit focused on the fires over the last few days. Nothing is burning near me so all I am really suffering from is itchy eyes from the smoke in the air and sore thumbs from constant texting to various friends in the truly affected areas. Poor me.

I did start a group over on Flickr a few days ago to try to start aggregating the many pictures that were coming in from all over the area. If you have a second, you really ought to check it out. Some of the pictures these people are taking are amazing. You will find the group here.



I have stumbed across something interesting over the course of running the group, though. Over the last few days, I've done a lot of searching for fire pictures to encourage people to post them to the group and I have been noticing the saddest phenomenon.

I would come across a bunch of pictures of people's random things...a box of DVDs, a chair, a child's bedroom...all tagged with the word fire so they would pop up in my search.

It wasn't until yesterday that I finally figured out what it was. People were quickly taking pictures to inventory their houses for insurance purposes and then uploading them to Flickr before they evacuate. Some were even tagging them as such.

I just have the saddest image of somebody scared walking around their house taking pictures wondering if the images will be all they have left once they leave.

It's also a really interesting reflection of how technology changes how we do everything...to the point that people even turn to it instinctually during times of panic and great stress.

I won't link directly to any of these as it felt too personal to even look at them once I realized what they were...but I'm sure you can find them if you try.

WooHoo

Tell me you don't have the theme song for the Simpsons running through your head right about now. I know you do...at least you do now!

The movie is a week away and the marketing push is in full swing. One of the elusive Kwik-E-Mart 7-11's is right by my office and I am such a geek that I have no shame admitting how cool I think that is. I finally stopped by today to take a few pictures.





There was quite a line outside, in fact there has been every time I've driven by. That's why it's taken me until now to stop.

I always get a kick out of Simpson's humor which is why these were my favorite touches from the inside:





There was also a little art on the side wall for folks who were paying attention.



There were all out of Krustee-O's so I may have to stop by a few more times to try and luck into some before it transforms back into a 7-11.

You can check out the rest of the pictures in my Flickr album.

Just Looking For A Little Shade

As I was driving out of Griffith Park after dropping some equipment off at the Zoo for work, I spotted this guy:



Horrible picture, I know, but it is a coyote resting in the shade right by the road. In a very busy green park area too!

He was pretty skinny and rough looking. A good reminder that the animals in the area are still adjusting to all of the burned out areas. I'm betting there isn't much shade in the hills, very little water (if any) and food is probably still a bit scarce. Poor guy was just looking for a little relief from the heat. I know how miserable I am already this summer, I can only imagine what life is like in the burn area.

He was a good sport about me stopping my car in the middle of the road to take a few cameraphone pictures ( I know, I'm an idiot). After a minute though he let me know it was time to move along.

Happy 4th of July

So I went to the firework show at Chase Park in Marina Del Rey this year, mainly because it's 135 degrees out and the beach sounded so much better than home. Also in case you hadn't heard, simply thinking about fireworks in the valley this year will cause the dry hills to explode into a massive ball of fire.

Well it was certainly cooler than the valley. Just a heads up...fireworks and fog don't mix. Who knew!



At first they were just a little dulled by the fog, but after a few went off the smoke seemed to stick in the moist air. Really bizarre.



I did still get a few good shots though:





Fun side effect of the fog...red fireworks make the sky look very cool!

Take me to the Zoo

I love the LA Zoo for so many reasons.

For one, zoos are just fun. It is a whole place dedicated to learning and play...what could be cooler than that. I so enjoy science, especially behavioral sciences that I could spend hours watching the animals interact with each other and trying to figure out what it all means.

The LA Zoo is extra special for me, though. I feel like I grew up there. I can remember visiting as a kid and loving it. As a teenager, I went to high school there and trust me...it was absolutely as fun as it sounds. We took classes and did research in front of animal exhibits, we got into areas that weren't open to the public, and I even got to touch a giraffe once.

As an adult, I am of course a member. If you find me bored on a Saturday afternoon, odds are I will head out to the zoo to take pictures. I was even able to do a programming project for work in one of the new buildings...talk about coming full circle. I love that as a grown-up, I can still have such a fun kid-like time there. As the responsibilities and problems of the world press down on us, everyone needs a place they can go to be a kid again.

Now I only wish they still sold those great animal shaped french fries! On a hot summer day I can still taste them...dipped in a cherry icee of course.

The Hills Still Aren't The Same

As many of my friends know, I was very sad about the Griffith Park fire.

Don't get me wrong. I fully appreciate how lucky everyone is that no one was hurt and I think the firemen were amazing to save all of the historic structures and homes. I just love the park and I hated to see it scarred.

Staying out of the park the last month has been difficult. It is my favorite regular hiking spot. I am the first to tell people how wrong I think it is to try and sneak into the burn areas as the land needs to heal...and it doesn't need us stomping all over it while it does. I also share in the frustrations held by many that we are be kept out of large portions of the hills where there has been no fire.

Conspiracy theories abound that the reason the majority of the park is closed is to make it easier for the powers-that-be to push through a new master plan allowing for more paving and deveoloping of the land. It is getting harder to call these theories crazy. There is definitely a group of people that would like to see Griffith Park opened up for more commercial uses. Parking lots, restauraunts, paved roads...the list goes on and on. All of these plans backed by arguments that talk about opening the park up for everyone and helping it to pay for itself. The problem is, of course, that the plan calls for a destruction of the very thing it is "developing".

Things change, time marches on, but sometimes you have to let things remain. Not everything should change. Not everything has to be fully accessible to everyone. Not everything has to be able to generate money for the city. When you are blessed with an urban wilderness as special as Griffith Park, it is the responsibility of the City of Los Angeles and the residents of the city to protect it.

http://savegriffithpark.org/

Fire in the Park

As everyone around LA has heard (or smelled, or seen, or wiped the ash off of their car and discovered), Griffith Park is burning away. Makes me a little sad as it is such a fun place to go hiking right in the middle of the city. In fact one of my most rewarding hiking moments was making it to the Hollywood sign from the Observatory. I was determined to figure out the route on my own and it took me a few tries, but it ended up being a great day. All will regrow and nature will recover, but I sure wish I had taken the time to hike up there recently as my favorite trails won't be the same for a very long time.

I headed out to the LA River at Los Feliz after work to watch the water dropping CDF planes do their thing. It was an amazing show. I took a few pictures with my camera phone:


There was a small crowd hanging out. You can't really tell in the picture, but there was also a woman with her 2 horses watching the fire to see if it started heading back towards the equestrian areas of the park.


One of the CDF planes making a drop. That is a tremendous amount of water. I heard that it would do serious damage to a house if they missed their target.


Things started to get much worse as I decided to head home. Power was going out, people were starting to evacuate and I didn't want to be in the way.

It is a bad sign for the fire season this year if a homeless man falling asleep with a lit cigarette on a golf course can cause all of this.

You can check out all of the pictures I took on Flickr.

Happy 4th of July

In honor of Independence day, here are my answers to a 4th of July quiz I heard on the radio today:

Question 1: What do you like most about America?

Answer 1: I love the creativity of the American people. I think stems from the many freedoms that we take for granted. Somehow we have fostered a culture where we really believe that there is no problem for which we can't create a solution. As a result, we occasionally stumble across truly ingenious solutions to age old problems. We also occasionally invent really cool, creative mops that sell on tv for $19.99 at 2:00 in the morning.

Question 2: What would you most like to change about America?

Answer 2: If I could change anything, it would be to make the voting public realize that we have more power and control over our government than we seem to think we do. I am always amazed to hear people talk about "the government" as some opressive dictator that runs their lives. When will people realize that our elected leaders and establishments can only have as much power as we are willing to hand over to them. We are currently handing that power over through our apathy.

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I had a fun quiet day and managed to snap some firework pictures.

Thought I would share a few of my favorites, enjoy:

Pretty Butterflies

I made a trip to the Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum this weekend, and I finally remembered to bring my camera. There is something magical about all of those butterflies flying around all over the place. Thought I would share a few pics with everyone.


If you blow this one up, you can actually see it drinking necter out of the flower...very cool.






A cocoon


A monarch caterpiller

You can see the rest of the pictures from the day on my Flickr Page

Make sure a view a few of the butterfly pics at the largest size...I never noticed before just how much butterflies look like bugs! For some reason they always seemed less buglike to me.