Weekend, I Prefer the Weekend

So someone's got one of those hot new messenger style "over the shoulder" bags. And if you're thinking "Hey, if you're so hardcore, why do you wear big ol' crosstrainers to ride a 10 speed?" well don't even think it, because I just bought some guy from Santa Rosa's smelly old cycling shoes off Ebay for $10.

This past weekend we took a trip down to Long Beach, the main point of which was for me to see the harbor where all the goods from China arrive on ships. The scale of the operation was amazing. It's the second largest port in the US and they unload over 18,000 semi truck sized containers a day. That's a lot of semi truck sized containers. There's something about how the ships pull in and the cranes start unloading it one by one that makes you ( or maybe just me) feel like this all just *might* be a few thousand guys just playing around like they're 6 years old. I'd imagine that they just hum and whistle all day and that the ship captain makes engine noises with his mouth when he pulls out of the harbor. The one guy who sits up top and works the crane just sort of over-exaggerates moving the gears back and forth randomly and moves his head side-to-side making squeaky crane noises with his mouth, and all the while the containers are magically loaded on the trucks. There's a whole category of jobs that seem to be basically grown up versions of curious hyper 6 year old boys on a Saturday afternoon. Writing computer programs is not one of those jobs. But it's still awesome. I need to go back for a better look and a tour to verifiy that this isn't actually what's going on. Wouldn't that be something. Dayna was really very good about the whole thing for someone who is not...you know...into really big cargo ships. Next time I'll get some pictures.

This weekend I'm planning on visiting the LA central library branch in downtown LA. So if you think pictures of me in slightly wet t-shirts are amazing, wait until you hear my fantastical tales of wonder about microfiche, hot librarians, and the technological marvels of the self checkout machine. Put me and the Dewey Decimal system the same room and you better bring a helmet. And a digital camera. And a laptop with an internet connection so you can write about it, add the pictures you took, and put it up on a website where people you know can read about it.

Couches on Kester

Yesterday I was very lucky to record a very rare specimen, the red Guatamalan sleep-e-z. Known to inhabit mainly intersections in Van Nuys, it blends in to its surroundings waiting for next tired day worker returning home with a pocketful of hard earned (tax free) cash. Yesterday this particular couch ate 4 people. Already today it appears as though this couch has moved on to another Valley neighborhood, but next summer it will brave the heat and migrate back to Van Nuys for another feeding season as it and other couches like it have been doing for thousands of years.

Oops, I Have a Web Log

Today upon finishing my daily after-work Van Nuys ritual of checking my apartment for people that aren't supposed to be inside the apartment, I was suddenly inspired to go to Dayna's work, get the camera from the car, and put some stuff up on the web log. I took some pictures on 4 block ride back home.

I didn't believe Dayna's stories about how many sidewalk couches there were on her way to work. I saw them and I still don't believe it.




Did I say sidewalk couches? I meant sidewalk computers.




Some English person fighting the power. Look carefully. I fought the power already twice this week when I specified my Starbucks coffee size in English not Latin. Hey that's one letter away from Latino. Coincidence? Yes.








This sign is for a corner cell phone store. It actually says "No ID Required!" in Spanish in big letters. Ok?

We went to Winnipeg shorty after the last post for two weeks which was great. Since being back in Van Nuys I haven't posted anything because after putting up with my shennanigans for two weeks I didn't think anyone cared. Turns out they don't, but my mom is getting anxious so here it is.












We missed an apparently insane California heat wave that was hotter than a Chinese toilet and this is what our plants looked like when we got back.

















But it was worth it because we got to see this.











And this.











And this.


Home Hardware.
Canada Post.
The horizon.

It was great.