LaughAloud

From the Vaults

I was going through a box of old papers this evening, and came across something I wrote on the plane while on my way to San Diego for my interview in 2005. Apparently I intended to post it here, and simply never did...until now! 

 

"To be posted later:

12:05pm Central, Tuesday, June 7, 2005

 

On the plane, preparing for my interview...

Reading and re-reading information about UCSD Libraries & people. From the UCSD Libraries Strategic Plan 2002-2005:

Strategy 1: Organizational Effectiveness

Cultivate a healthy, diverse and dynamic environment that attracts and retains competent and creative employees. Structure our organization to motivate and enable Library employees to provide the highest-quality services. (emphasis added)

As Smitty would say - Must be Nice!"

 

It sounded good reading it then, and in six years working at UCSD, I'd say this grand sounding strategy was actually part of the institutional culture of the library. Like most goals, not every aspect always 100% realized, but more than just words that look good on paper.

Recent Encounters with the Empire

This summer, I had multiple encounters with The Empire. They were fun, scary and a little bit surreal.

Passing through the exhbits at the ALA Conference in D.C. I happened by the DK Publishing booth, where who was standing, but the Lord Vader himself with a few stormtroopers.

But that wasn't the end of it...a couple weeks later, back in San Diego there was another encounter.

Do you see Darth Vader back there in the back? Well he looks far away now, but I was on the sidewalk right next to these guys and Darth Vader passed within two feet of me. Now I know intellectually this was just some guy, dressed up in a Darth Vader suit, but that certainly didn't stop part of me from being terrified to be that close to the towering Lord Vader surrounded by his minnions.

Which made our next encounter, that much stranger.

About a month later we ended up at Legoland on Star Wars day.  It was probably the most surreal and strange of all our summer brushes with the Empire.

While we didn't actually get to see another live Vader, we did see this lego Vader, and plenty of "real" Imperial Guards and stormtroopers. Except that all those live agents of the Empire, were taking pictures with small children who were happy to see them and not at all afraid. This red, Imperial gaurd had a child come up and take its hand just before posing for a picture. What!?

So I know, these small children are being introduced to an earlier, cartoon universe, but it was still a bit surreal. 

And strange to think of people growing up with a totally different idea of who and what Stormtroopers are. It would have been interesting to see how the small ones reacted to a real-life Vader though. I imagine that might have been a bit different.

My favorite image from the day, was this one, of the Stormtrooper seeming to be taken with this small child. Though I like to think it's a rebel fighter hiding out in a stormtrooper suit.

 

 

 

View from the Range

 

 

Just outside the new, temporary range, taken on my way to shoot.

Lego Degas

We finally went to Legoland for the first time about a week ago thanks to a free pass from one of my co-workers. It was a fun place, made even more fabulous because it was Star Wars weekend. There was a ton of fun costumes and amazing, elaborate Star Wars Lego constructions. The mini-lego cities from around the country were really cool, but my favorite part was a small hidden corner of the park filled with Lego versions of famous art, like this Degas. It was the only place that was quiet and empty of people and the art was all beautiful, just like this Degas.

On the Silver Strand

Last weekend I went to the beach with my friend Pat. We walked on the sand, took pictures, enjoyed the breeze and fresh sea air. It made me wonder, why don't I make time for this more often?

Wishes

San Diego Sunset

It was a beautiful sunset today & this doesn't even begin to do it justice. San Diego hardly ever has amazing clouds like this. I took this out the window on the highway. Don't worry I was in the passenger seat.

 

What Earthquake?

Tuesday at about 11:42 AM there was a magnitude 5.4 Earthquake outside of L.A.. It was big enough to do some minor damage in the L.A. area, and to be felt all the way down in San Diego. By some people. But not me.

I was in my office, having a meeting, and neither I nor the person I was meeting with felt anything. Only to step out a few minutes later to excited people ask if we felt it. "Felt what?" we asked.

I've been living here almost 3 years now, and I have been waiting, and waiting to feel a (small) earthquake. And this one would have been the one to feel. It wasn't a short shaking quake, but one of the longer (30-60 sec?) undualting ones.  Described as what it would feel like if the Earth suddenly became a water bed.  WOW. Does that sounds cool or what? I hope there's another (small) one. I want to feel an earthquake!

"Unconditional Surrender"

This sculpture is near the Port of San Diego just next to the U.S.S. Midway.  The sculpture depicts the kiss in Times Square on V-J Day shown here and here.  Another view, with Smith peeking up her skirt.

YMCA

Went to the Y for a workout this evening...I'm taking so many pictures with this new fish eye lens, I am definitely going to have to start using flickr or something, or at least making my blog much more photo heavy! :)

Have I mentioned I love my new lens?  I do.

Dr. Suess is 104

Or at least, he would be if he were still alive.  This picture was taken last Monday at his annual birthday celebration in front of the Geisel Library. Have you ever seen a Cat in the Hat this big!?!

New Beginning

Snowside

Coffee & Ash

I decided I needed to get out of the house this morning and decided to walk to Influx Cafe for a coffee.  Its only a few blocks away, so I figured it wouldn't be too bad breathing in the smoke for 10 minutes or so.  I wasn't sure if they would even be opened, but it was packed, more like a weekend than a week day.

We're about 10 to 15 miles from the nearest fires to our southeast, but there is still a thin layer of ash covering the plants and cars in the area.  It's a little freaky, and I can't imagine how it is closer to the fires. The light seems a little closer to normal today, but maybe you can see from the picture of the flower above, it looks much closer to the quality of evening or early morning light, but I took the picture around 10am.

Walking back with my nice, cool iced coffee, I took a picture of our house from across the highway.  It looks like it could just be a hazy day, but the sky is grey from the smoke.  Take a look at this picture from the other side of the highway just after we moved in.  The weather this week is really similar, and the sky would be just as blue today if it weren't for the fires.

Fire Update

Chip and I are still fine, and it seems less smoky than this morning.  We're getting ready to go to the store to stock up on food.  We have almost nothing since we just got back in town, and don't want to have an empty fridge if anyone needs a place to stay!

Here are some places to look for updates:

This Google Maps mash-up I mentioned last night is good, though occaisionally has weird blips of info.  We live really close to where I-5 and 94 meet close to downtown San Diego. 

The Union Tribune website is hard to get to because of traffic, but they have a blog with continual updates.

KPBS streams their radio station online, though I know earlier they were having bandwidth problems.   They also have a twitter page with brief updates.

There's also my twitter page for personal news of Chip and myself.  I'm not updating it frequently, but if we do have to evacuate (unlikely) then I can still post updates there from my phone.

Downtown at Landing

SoCal Celebrity Sighting

Today we strolled downtown for a little shopping at Horton Plaza.  We did a little shopping, a little gazing in the video game stores, and were starting to make our way to the exit.  We passed by an arcade we hadn't realized was there, and outside there was a man talking to his two young kids.  As we passed by, I was looking at the little girl, noticing her long pretty skirt.  Chip was looking at the father.  As we passed them, and headed down the escalator Chip turned to me and said "I think that man talking to his kids was the guy from The Closer."

I don't know if any of you watch The Closer, but Chip and I are big fans.  So I said, "What! Which guy!?"  "Her boss, Chief Pope."  At this point we're reaching the end of the escalator and I say I'm going right back up to look.  So while Chip waits, I go back upstairs, follow the guy and his kids into the video game store, and sure enough, it was either him or someone who looks just like him. 

When we got home, I looked him up, and sure enough J.K. Simmons does have two young children!  We saw Chief Pope at the mall!  How cool is that?! 

Sprung

Back in November, I planted flower seeds out in front of our new house. Since then,  my little flowers have grown big, almost spilling out onto the sidewalk.

Not all the seeds I planted grew into flowers, but there are lots of Calendulas and California Poppies (in both red and orange).  And just this week, Larkspur began to bloom, expanding my flowers color palate into purple and pink.

Spring in San Diego means not just flowers at our house, but flowers everywhere, along with skies more grey than sunny.  It may sound funny, but its awfully nice to have mornings that are full of clouds and not so glaringly bright. 

Next month will be what they call here in San Diego "May Grey." Chip says our mornings lately have been teaser trailers for May Grey. I do love trailers :)

Water or Rail?

Sometime early this morning, I would guess 4 or 5 am, I heard a loud bellowing horn.  I could tell it was distant, but it was still loud enough to wake me, and I'm not a light sleeper. I've heard this horn at least once before since we've moved, and both times, I've thought it was ships in the harbor blowing their fog horns. 

This morning when I heard it, wanted to go over into the window and look out to see if it was foggy.  I didn't, but I dreamt about it.  I walked over to the window, and in my dream, I could see the ships in port at the harbor, and the fog was lifting and they were zooming away into the morning.  Someone was telling me how their aunt knew the fog was going to lift and kept waiting for the ships to change their schedules to leave early in the morning.  I counted the ships I saw leaving, so I could report how many (9) left in the few moments I stood at the window. 

So of course after my dream, I was sure it had been ships in the harbor making that noise, but when i mentioned it to Chip, he said he thought it was a train.  The harbor is two miles away, and the closest train tracks I've been able to find on a map run along the shore, so I guess it could go either way.  I'll have to find where there is a marine weather report, and start looking at that on the mornings I hear the horn, and try to prove my case. :)

A House, You Say?

A house, I say!

Chip and I are moving into a cute little old, craftsman house.  I am so very happy and excited.  We realized about a month ago that our lease on our apartment was almost up, and that while we weren't ready to buy, we could rent a house for about the same as we are paying now.  After a couple weeks of diligent hunting, we found the perfect place, and signed the lease tonight.

Why am I so excited? Here is a list of some top reasons why:

• hardwood floors
• a yard where, I can garden, we can put a grill, there are washer/dryer hookups (yes, in San Diego these are often outside!)
• built-ins
• new neighborhood
• cool walk-in pantry under the stairs & cool closets under the eves

Most of all, I think this will make me really happy to live in San Diego.  When we moved here last year, I was excited about the new place and the new job, but not excited about where we were moving to.  I feel that finally, after a year, we are moving into a place that will be home.