Jan 02 2012
Came across this super-tiny guy crawling around my bathroom cabinet this morning. I had to get my jeweler’s loupe just to see that it was a jumping spider. After completely disturbing it by jamming my giant electronic eye into its world, I set it loose in our backyard, free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.
Jan 02 2012
Started off my day by watching the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade. Since from the very beginning it’s been a tournament rule to never have it held on a Sunday, it was moved to today. I kept flipping channels to either re-watch a particular float I liked, to avoid commercials or sometimes to view the floats instead of the bands. I tend to like the animated floats the best.
Jan 01 2012
A nice surprise on this first day of the new year was an unexpected visit by my good friends Randy and Michaelle, along with their two kids, while my sister was also here, confabulating with my mom. They didn’t stay very long, but it was a pleasant disruption to our evening.
Jan 01 2012
2012 started with a bright, sunny morning. (Since I slept a bit later than usual, it was after all the dense fog had burned away.) The morning delivered some terrific French toast casserole that Sylvia had started the night before. After topping it off with some creamy, brown sugar and cinnamon paste with some walnuts before baking, she, Rodrigo and I sat down to a delicious breakfast, as it should be when greeting the new year. We played around with Lilo and Stitch in their backyard for a while before I finished off the first day of the new year at home.
( f o g a n d t o a s t a n d d o g p i c s )
Dec 31 2011
So my last day of the year started out innocently enough, with me finishing up some uninteresting, non-blog-worthy tasks. That was until I went down to Sylvia and Rodrigo’s house in fog-encased Chula Vista. We watched a couple of episodes of “Mad Men,” and then had pizza for dinner while playing a few rounds of Rummikub. Then we watched the “Red Bull: No Limits” live, world-record double jump that happened here at Seaport Village, with Levi LaVallee on snowmobile and Robbie Maddison on motorcycle. They both set their world records without any mishaps. Then we sat down to watch a couple of movies on Netflix before midnight. We first watched “True Grit“ with Jeff Bridges. All three of us loved it. I thought it was very smartly written and very well acted by everyone. A very believable movie. We followed that with “Limitless“ with Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro. I’m really starting to like Abbie Cornish, ever since “Sucker Punch.” She may end up on my island. All three of us really enjoyed this movie as well. Also well acted by everyone. After midnight we putzed around for about an hour before heading off to bed, with me upstairs in the studio, saying good-bye to what seemed like a very active year. I am honestly looking forward to what the new year will bring, starting with a buttload of new calendars.
Dec 30 2011
A delightful duet posted by Zooey Deschanel on her YouTube channel. This is a perfect year-end two-part harmony with Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Dec 30 2011
On our walk from the Auto Show to Seaport Village, we passed by a huge ramp set up for a New Year’s Eve attempt at two simultaneous world-record jumps over water at the Embarcadero. Sponsored by Red Bull, one will be by Levi LaVallee on a snowmobile and the other by Robbie Maddison on a motorcycle.
Dec 30 2011
Enjoyed my annual attending of the San Diego International Auto Show at the Convention Center downtown by the bay. This year I was accompanied by my friends José, Rodrigo and Archie. All guys…huh. My focus, as usual, was not on the cars normal people would buy every day. That’s boring. I was aiming my camera at the more exotic, classic, playful or obscenely expensive vehicles, as well as some of the more famous TV and movie cars. Unfortunately this time there were no electric bikes for me to ride around on and get dorky pictures of. We finished our horsepowered adventure with a tourist-dodging walk over to the Seaport Village food court where we all ate some delicious gyros sandwiches from Jerry G. Bishop’s Greek Islands Cafe. While there I got to watch two harbor seals horsing around very close to the walkway. Fun way to end a fun day.
( v e h i c u l a r p i c s )
Dec 29 2011
After finishing up my Zoo visit, I walked “next door” and spent about two hours at the San Diego Natural History Museum, including watching the exceptionally well-done 3D movie called “Sea Rex: Journey to a Prehistoric World.” As is with almost all the movies I’ve seen at “The NAT,” the 3D was amazing and the movie was very educational. It is a little long at forty minutes though. I also finally took my time checking out their latest exhibit called “Skulls,” which consists of a large collection of various specimens of the museum’s own skulls that they use for research.
( c r a n i a l p i c s )
Dec 29 2011
What was supposed to be an extended last visit to the San Diego Zoo for this year turned into a limited, shortened, crowd-dodging, iPodless and relatively unremarkable excursion. Although, I did pass some cool animals walking around on leashes (a leopard and a wolf) and it was a beautiful and sunny 7o degree day, and I was at the San Diego Zoo, something that billions o’ people can’t say but wish they could. There was a large contingent of college football fans, tourist holdovers from yesterday’s Holiday Bowl between the Texas Longhorns and the California Golden Bears. Lots of orange and blue shirts today. I spent my time visiting areas I normally don’t walk to and because of my adventurousness it was the first time I’d seen a Turkmenistan Caracal. So I’ve got that going for me. Oh, and all my shots were on the wrong white balance setting.
Dec 28 2011
Once again, more Christmas decorations (some of my favorite photos so far) than actual cat shots, although two of the cats finally did some wrestling while I took photos. My last night tonight. Or is it?
( f e l i n e p o s i t i o n s )
Dec 28 2011
First time ever for a video chat with Rodrigo from his work office. At least until he got a genuine work-related call. PCs and Macs CAN get along, thanks to Google.
Dec 28 2011
Went to Burlington Coat Factory with my mom so she could pick up some socks that she unfortunately ended up never finding. I also struck out with picking up a new pair of shorts (cuz it’s December). So to lick our consumer wounds we went next door to Starbucks and drank some delicious coffees and enjoyed a couple of slices of super moist cake while sitting outside on a sunny, 70 degree December day in San Diego. So the trip was not a total bust. Except for that one girl who walked by.
Dec 27 2011
Back again with the neighbors’ cats. Last night was my first of three overnights. Today was my first full day of feline pampering, with the Old Town visit to break up my day. Took a bunch of shots of the neighbors’ Christmas decoration since the cat pictures are all starting to look the same.
( c a t t y p i c s )
Dec 27 2011
Some old friends of my mom’s were in town visiting family and they stopped by to say hi to my mom and me. The wife, Judy, worked with my mom many years ago in Zaragoza, Spain in civil service. We took them down to Old Town for lunch where we joined my sister, who surprised my mom with meeting us there. We had a terrific lunch at Casa de Reyes inside Fiesta de Reyes. After lunch we walked around for a couple of hours showing them some of the sites, smells and history of old San Diego, including the middle-of-the-street grave markers. With perfect weather for strolling it was another good tour-guidey kind of day.
( t o u r i s t y p i c s )
