The Jobs Americans Won't Do Part 1

We are on the bus on the way to the conference when I spot 2 guys in a hole working. What's odd is they are telling the equipment driver to dump the dirt into the hole while they are inside. We watch as the dirt drops around them - rocks bounce into their faces. The only safety equipment they have are hard hats, no eye protection. If they do this all day it will not end well. They will likely say, "We never saw that coming."

OSHA would have a field day writing fines. The truck as it is moving around, rammed into the metal brace that is keeping the hole from filling itself.

This looks like one job that will not be done on 1 May.

Big Show

One part of my job that I love is I get to see lots of technology. This show is focused on all kinds of broadcasting and related technologies. This is the second helicopter I've seen inside today. You can smell the fuel. I wonder where you get a permit to being one inside. This show is more male skewed than any I've ever seen.

Westfield - yuch

How do I hate Westfield? Let me count the ways. Today we went to the mall so Kerry could get some new shoes. She is trying to compete with Mrs Marcos - she wants 3 pair today. I keep reminding her that she only has 2 feet. Anyway back to my Westfield rant.

They have continued their uglificaton of the mall, this time by covering every available flat space with ads. What's next? I think they will have people carrying ads. Wait ... They do that; balloons with ads for the kids, how sweet.

Awana Grand Prix

Nothing makes dads more anxious than the Pinewood Derby. The boys each helped with the design. Campbell wanted a shark and Cooper wanted a whale.

Campbell came in second in his 1st heat, first in the 2nd, and 3rd in the 3rd. He had a great time. Cooper was way out in the lead - several feet, when 2 feet from the finish his rear wheel popped off. He was not too sad - he was able to race again after some repairs.

The axel design was changed this year from a two piece, to a single. It was much harder to work with than last year.

I make the boys do as much as they are able - they do the sanding, painting, and decoration.

Too cool

We had a field trip today to see the plane that served as Reagan's Air Force One. Amazing time. We ahad a great docent who took 2 hours to tour us around.

The trip home had us crawling in LA rain traffic.

I Can See Clearly Now

The rain is not gone, I can see GTY, but I cannot get there. Old Red has once again decided not to go. The people at P will again (I'm sure) be unable to duplicate the problem. I Think Red is just wanting to have fun with me. The last time this happened P had the car for a long time and it would never duplicate. I have had it back for several months without a problem. I thought I had it figured out: bad fuel.

For now I sit by the side of the road waiting for AAA to come.

John Daley's Wish Came True

John finally got his wish, every day after lunch John wants to go get ice cream. At today's lunch John ordered a huge serving.

Ooo Lunch

We dropped Nana at LAX then went to find some lunch. Kerry read that there was a Chick-fil-a in Torrance. We made the drive and circled the mall (2 tanks of gas) and found it. Best chicken sandwich from a fast food place. Be sure to get it with extra pickles.

This is the closest one to our house. I hope they come closer.

Good Bye Till June Nana

Nana came to visit. We all had a wonderful time. She will return in June with Pop.

The boys will miss her till then.

The Award for Best Camera Man Goes to ...

John Daley. We had a significant staff event today at GTY. We had a gracious family come in and allow us to honor them, by having one of their own share how she came to know Jesus. John recorded the event for them. It was a wnderful time, and I know that she was glad for her family to her the Gospel of Christ again.

Someone's in the Kitchen

After church we went to Dinah's for fried chicken. Campbell sat with grandpa while we were waiting. You know you live in LA when you don't think that 20 miles is too far to drive for lunch.

Cooper was happy that they have a new side dish - macaroni and cheese.

Everything is Better

After all the computers got closer to normal, I went to LAX to get Kerry's mom. The 405 was more than its usual packing lot -- there was a huge crash, and the backup was 30min. We decided to go through downtown via the 105, but that was even worse. They were filming a movie, doing road work, and other downtown related ugliness.

Once we got Mary everything was fine. Smooth sailing back up the 405. And Apple Pan makes everything better -- best burgers in LA proper (Pie 'N Burger in Pasadena is also quite good). Since we were a party of five, we had to split into two groups if we ever wanted to eat -- the have one U-shapped counter, and it's first-come first-served.

If you have never been there, it is worth the schlep. We go as often as we can, but I hate driving on the West-side; they are all crazy.

Bad Day

You know it's a bad day when the server farm is 110F! The inside of the file drawers were 96F.

After the HVAC came back online, everything restored without any problems. The hardest part is trying to field all the questions - while trying to get everything back online.

Ted did a great job. Note the fans trying to get the room under control.

Salvation Mountain

What better thing to do after church, thqn go for a visit to Salvation Mountain. This huge man-made mountain is made of hay bales, adobe, and more than 10,000 gallons of paint. It is the work of one man - and one picture cannot convey the site. I hope to get some additional pix posted to the family site soon.

Come Let Us Worship

We went to church at Grace Baptist Church. About 60 people gathered together to worship. A special speaker was there - a former missionary to Africa. After church we had lunch at Sizzler.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

Jay's dad showed Campbell how to shoot a BB gun. Campbell got it by the third try. He loved hearing the clink on the cans. On his second day Campbell made 11 out of 13 shots, this from a kid who does not play video games.

Mini Vacation to El Centro

We needed some time away so we decided to go to El Centro to visit Jay's parents. The traffic on the way down was horrid - but we did have a fun lunch at Chic-fil-a. The picture is of the boys in there new favorite suits.

Where Do 3000 Men Go?

ShepConf Decided that all the men on campus were too many for the existing men's rooms, so they converted the women's to men's for this week only. Before they did the lines were everywhere for every Men's room on campus.

Where do you feed 3500 men?

The parking lot at GCC was filled with 3500 men eating lunch. The ShepConf took over the whole church. While there was plenty of food, there could have been more seating and tables. Too bad the boy with the loaves and fishes didn't stop by with some chairs.

It is a great encouraging time.

Buskers in Burbank

After Church we went to Lunch at Sharky's in Burbank. From there we went to Target -- when I went back outside with Campbell to get a cart we were stopped by a lady who wanted to know if we were interested in getting C1 into pictures. We took her card(We called our in-the-biz friend to get her opinion).

After Target I took our bags to the car, when I got back I found these buskers in front of Target playing with gusto.

Pumpkin Cooper

Cooper lost his first tooth today. It was loose, and he decided to give it a yank at GTY and out it came. We put it into a polybox. It's odd that his first tooth out is on the top - I'm sure the others will come out it short order.

A Saturday Afternoon

The boys enjoy some time in the sun at our Sunday School party.

A Shady Rest

My dad takes a rest in the shade during our LA tour. We had lunch at Phillippe's, walked through the Bradbury - all our regular stops. Beautiful weather - sunny and not too warm.

What is this Stuff?

We found this odd clear cold stuff in sheets all over the back garden. The boys smashed it on the patio. I'm not sure but it could be ice. I'll need to check with my friend David in Canada to be sure.

Gymnastic Fun

Campbell gives his all on the bar. He loves the class, when Hugo is teaching. Today C1 did all the equipment, but did the best on the rings. He never does anything halfway - he tries his best to do what he is asked. Cooper's class is on a different day - so Cooper is playing wild shoot 'em Legos on the stairs.

The background music today is an 80s fest.

More Reasons to Love California

Our daffodils are coming up all over our garden. These past few weeks have been very warm, but they are calling for much cooler weather this weekend. We might have to close our windows.

Jay Enjoys Kristi's Birthday

Jay enjoys Kristi's birthday shake. She did not want it, so he had to eat it.

Clinton Walk

After our walk to the open house we stopped at McDonald's for lunch - Clinton style. We ate small - no frys or huge drinks. We learned from a local developer and friend, that a Bristol Farms market is coming to Valencia near our house (can you say Spa water?). He said that there is also some food coming close to GTY: Rattler's is a posibility, Jack in the Box, and Oats and Whey.

Ficketts Find Free Fun

Jumpy in the dirt, dry food, bland face painting, and no coffee. It wasn't the MB party, but we did expect a bit more for our nothing. It was free so it's hard to complain.

We walked down from our house to the event. Summer-like weather in February, 80 reasons why we love living in California.

An early Valentine

After the Villa I told everyone that we were going to get dinner. The family was thinking fast food, but I had another plan. My dad used to take us to the Malibu Sea Lion (NKA Malibunius Zalophus Californius), the restaurant is gone, but the building remains. It is now Duke's a seafood place from Hawaii. We had a great meal and a wonderful view of the waves and the sunset.

A Perfect Day in Malibu

We got tickets to come to the second week opening of the Getty Villa. We had a great day. The boys painted pots, and tried to spot gods on pots. They both were trying to spot snakes on the pots, and jewelery.

Cone of Silence

John D makes a private call at lunch using his portable cone of silence.

Only in Valenica again

I love my city. The local MB dealership had an open house. Free lunch - Wood Ranch BBQ, face painting, jumpy, Newhall coffee (anything you could want) and t-shirts, two weeks free at the spectrum club, 1 week free at the Paseo club, and all we had to do was show up. The BMW dealership is coming soon across the street. What will they do to out do this?

The merchants of Valencia - great job.

Faith

We saw this women of faith at Starbucks. She had her computer balanced on the thin bar below her chair. We left before it came crashing down onto the floor.

Only in Valencia

Our Pavillion's has an iPod vending machine; what's yours have?

Several of the empty spaces indicated that PSPs were coming soon.

Now I can go home

I'd seen every musical instrument here - but I had not seen any bagpipes. Then through the din of the hall I could hear the dulcet tones of a pipe band. NYPD had sent their pipe and drum band to the show.

I like bagpipes, others do not. So while I was drawn to them, others were running from them. A matter of taste.

How far do you walk?

A friend gave me a pedometer this week. I have been using it to see how far I walk each day just around GTY. Today I wore it to the show. I just gave it a look and the 19,000+ steps I've taken so far (I still need to walk the half mile back to the car) is just over 9 miles! I think I deserve a milkshake.

When It was all over it came to 10.2 miles, the car was further away than I thought.

Nightmare comes true

What's worse than one accordion? 12! Perhaps I'm on trade show overoload, but this booth pushing the world's most (insert favorite slam here) insrtument. Worse yet is they have a loop playing that repeats every 15 seconds. If a fire starts I hope it starts here.

The difference between an onion and accordion?
People cry when they chop up onions.

What did people say when the ship loaded with accordions sank in the ocean?
Well, it's a start.

What is the difference between an Uzi and an accordion?
The Uzi stops after 20 rounds.

What is the difference between an accordion player and a terrorist?
Terrorists have sympathisers.

LA Car Show

Nice rainy Saturday, so we decided to take the subway to the convention center to see the car show. We just purchased a car, but it's fun to look at all the new cars. We saw a small star from 24 in the crosswalk with us.

Should also say that were were within a few seconds of being invloved in a smash-up on the 170 on our way to the subway station. We also missed by 10 minutes an attempted suicide by train, they were finishing up the investigation when we returned from the show. Glad we missed both of those events.

At the show we saw some exotic cars with prices between $440,000 and $1,200,000. One has 1000HP and a full safety package that can hurl you down the road at 250+ MPH.

Blogging about blogs

I'm in the airport waiting to go home. We got through security (via the secret way) in about 10 min. Everyone else was waiting 1+ hours. This airport has free wiFi - other airports could take a lesson. BTW a friend has started a new blog at http://desertjuniper.blogspot.com if you have a few stop on by and tell her 'Bill sent you.'

Just what I need

I felt like I had done so much walking that I could have two desserts (They look better in person). So I got fruit crepes and creme brule. They were a bit over the top so I guess it's back to the NordicTrack for me.

Lost more than his shirt

Vladimir Lenin lost more than his shirt in LV - but he does stand tall outside a restaurant named Red Square. A place where starters are $14 and entrées are $39 plus - his dream come true. Maybe that's what happened, his head exploded.

Full Circle

This Danish company has developed a two arm turntable, one arm for left, the other for right. They claim that you get truer stereo sound this way. It also has an interface for input into a computer. Now if they only still made records. Better late ... This could be the perfect thing for Kerry's record

Everything is Normal

For the 3rd morning in a row Jay has had a French Dip with cheese and a diet coke with easy ice. The waitress saw how much diet coke Jay drinks, so she gave him the pitcher. Ted and I had normal breakfast items.

Google

They were here giving away prizes to everyone! Like all their products it was all free. I got to plqy with a giant claw game. Plus I learned that they have the internet on computer now.

How many would you like?

It's just what you need - a liquid cooled 24K gold plated gaming computer. I'm sure they will sell. The Voodoo person said they sell to rich people. At $20,000 US I'm sure she is right. Ooo it's shiney - you can see my reflexion.

City's new motto

Ted gets his fix

Ted got his coffee and we were off again to get out information overload. HDMI, HDTV, IPTV, HD-DVD and more.

John Daley's Computer

We found John Daley's computer - looks like it was run over by the forklift.

Ted teaches the computer

Ted teaches the computer some new tricks at CES.

Geekersize

This is wrong on so many levels. A still photo does not capture the jello-like aftershocks. Perhaps he is the next Jerrad. We'll check back in a few months.

New Car Part 2

Our car buyer took this picture for us the day we got our new car.