what's up?

fellas

been a busy weekend and have't had much time to even turn my ipad on. solo road trip up the coast and back with my son's wedding in the middle.

i have a beautiful new daughter-in-law, and a wonderful family--her parents, sisters and brother--can't get better than that. to make it perfect, my daughter and her boyfriend were able to be there...a rare treat to have both of my kids in the same place.

also lucked out and had perfect weather, between storms.

also, a long story short, i did not take any of my own pics of the wedding. last minute rushing around plus teetering on high high heels after marching to hell and back the day before, made me a bit wobbly, and i decided to be safe and leave the gear in the room. there was a photographer and videographer there anyway.

and when i tried to take a shot with my phone, it seized up and died on me. i guess i was meant to just enjoy the day.

san luis obispo for a night, then a few in san fran. currently in monterey, then on the road again tomorrow. i'll be home wednesday, i think. missing my better half. at least work is keeping him busy with a crap ton of overtime.

saw these guys' cars before out in riverside, and here, again, at huffarama. actually spoke with one of the guys from fellas car club...can't remember just now if he owned that purple truck, or another that i've shot from a previous show.

he was quite nice, and i think, really, the only person that did say anything to me at that show. i was probably wearing a scary face as usual. sorry...

running with scissors

finally broke down and went to costco to buy a new backup drive. membership had expired too, so a few hundred dollars later, i'm home trying to open the thing.

if you're not familiar with these things from costco, the packaging is practically non-destructable. i suppose it's to prevent theft, but sheesh. i'm over at my mother-in-law's, and the best i could find to open the thing are scissors that seem built for a kindergartener to use. they're actually full-size kitchen scissors, but cheap as hell.

tried a steak knife, but then thought better of it, and went back to the crapscissors.

found two of those pieces of crap, so between stabbing and cutting motions, followed by a two-scissor maneuver, i somehow managed to free the box from the bullet-proof plastic.

currently have the thing plugged in, and i guess i need to try moving some files on to it, in case i need to take it back.

would they take it back, when the packaging is all shredded and thrashed?? hopefully, it will work, and i won't have to find out.

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this master deluxe was beautiful. burnished golden in the sun, i was quite envious of the owners, as i left, heading back to my stupid, generic honda.

walkabout

my better half has gotten it in his head to make a concerted effort to do ten thousand steps a day. for the last couple of weeks, he has hit that goal or exceeded it every day.

i started it, i think i even wrote about wanting to do it, but i just don't have the time. except on weekends. i did the three mile round trip out to jersey mike's on beverly blvd one day. the thing about beverly, is there isn't enough sidewalk, and at some point, you have to walk on people's yards or on the street. stupid, really. so walking back, i decided to walk through a neighborhood i was unfamiliar with, and stumbled upon the bike path that cuts through whittier.

pretty lonely on some parts, but bike riders were frequent enough not to get too paranoid.

anyway, told my better half about it, and the next weekend, we were both walking over to jersey mike's. on the way back, we talked about how far the trail went. he said it's the same one that snakes down lambert, down past the two felons skate shop, one of his favorite stores to shop for boards at.

the next day he wanted to go try out some stuff with his camera over at the bridge above five points. instead of walking back on the path, we cut back up the street toward uptown, on greenleaf.

he was slightly ahead of me, when i hear him say, "i'll just wait over there." not knowing what he meant, until i passed a building, and saw this chevy, sitting in front of a repair shop.

i had taken my camera and little gorillapod to shoot pictures of the wind sculptures on the trail, but i was too shy to go over to the car, and just shot with my phone from the sidewalk. knowing i would do that, my better half, walked right on over to the owner and asked if he minded if i took a few shots. no problem.

he chatted the guy up, while i had to change all the settings on the camera, and then shoot. turned out, the car shop guys called the owner over to bring his car in for his smog or whatever, so i only had time for this one picture.

better than nuthin. always like shooting the random car i come across out and about. they just usually aren't this nice.

chopped

dear specific whoever is reading this blog and hitting the refresh button repeatedly, you get to the other pages by scrolling down, and using the numbers at the bottom to navigate through these pages, or go to the search tab.

there are two hundred and nine pages, at this point, so it might take you a while. if you're looking for a particular car, send me an email, i'll see if i've done anything with it, and maybe i'll put it up. i'm just afraid you're going to wear out that f5 button on your keyboard...i don't get any brownie points for page views, and neither do you...you'll just get frustrated.

i've got things to do, and will be away again tomorrow, so i'll just put this chopped bel air up for now. don't think i've seen anything like this one before. wonder how far they are going to take it.

in the burbs

i should say, burb.

saw this one back at the whittier uptown show last summer. shiny, isn't it?

waiting by the hotel, in the staging area. they always seem to open the show for entries late, so people get out of their cars in staging, leaving the cars alone, and i take advantage of the opportunity.

slept in, instead of going to pomona, my bad. apparently, my better half was really looking forward to going; but then i said i wasn't, he didn't want to go by himself.

he then felt inspired to go climb that big hill that i stare at from the window, while here playing with my pictures. i've been here eight years, and it was the first time up there. nice view.

then, my younger brother is town for a couple of weeks, so we went to take my parents and him out for lunch. fun time.

my better half really enjoys when my brother and i are in the same room, says we both are cut from the same cloth. our sense of humor is twisted, and once we get going, everyone will be laughing. we enjoy making mother shake her head, and ask herself where she went wrong...

one more busy week, then i'm off work for two. so yay, and prepare to spike the football...

“love you so”

saw this beauty drive in to the lot, and followed it here. didn't even wait for the dude to get out before i started shooting it from the other side, fearing he'd jump out and open the hood.

he didn't, do i came around to the sunny side.

says "love you so" on the back fenders on both sides.

anyone else bothered by the overly done light display at dunkel brothers, on the south side of the five freeway? the garish blinking stops traffic on my drive both ways each day; really surprised that it doesn't cause epilectic seizures from passerbys.

can say i don't mind the old car they have put out for the past several years.

huffarama

quick post. better half needed me to rip my computer apart to make room for xmas decorations and rearranging furniture. had this pic ready to go when he asked. probably be down for a couple of hours.

i'll write more when i get the puter running again...made it out to the bo huff show yesterday...it was a good show...dead sled guys--thanks for letting me in early!

armando’s bel air

armando is one of a very few car owners that will stop and chat with me, even if i look busy, or pissed, or whatever you want to say my face looks like. i'm not pissed. usually just have sun blazing into my eyes. hate wearing sunglasses taking pictures.

he usually drives a thirty-nine pontiac.

this show, i see him, but i dont' see the pontiac. he walks over to say hi, shakes hands with my better half and myself, and points out this bel air. oh, and that they've made their plaque fancier.

never did mention whether this is his other car, or if he got rid of the pontiac.

this is nice, but i see them all the time. pontiacs are harder to come by.

feel the power

really liked the color on this chevy. so polished, the sky reflected and it seemed to really glow. that tower of power behind it almost seems to be frankensteining it, amping up the color from a dingy brown, to a more vibrant sienna with copper undertones. maybe it's just my eyes.

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turkey day. family. no kids. they've grown up and have other plans. better half at home with his mom, i'm here with mine. his sister was supposed to come down from northern cali, but weather and other drama changed those plans.

my sister and her daughter coming for dinner here later. her daughter just got a new job and will be moving to japan soon, to teach engrish or some such thing. languages are easy for her--she can read, write, and speak japanese and spanish--so yay for her.

my son missed passing the bar by about forty points. he was really bummed for a few days, then got the written results. he knows what he needs to really study now, and feels positive he can pass next time. at least he scored better than his friends. he'll be having dinner with his fiance at his dad's, along with a zillion relatives. not really missing that part anymore...long ago, and lost in memory.

took a long walk at lunchtime. stopped at the atm, pulled some cash. was intending to not exactly feast at taco bell, but nope, closed. so, walked even farther, thinking maybe weinerschnitzel, since usually there's crap food open for half a day on thanksgiving somewhere, but nope, closed. carwash on the corner was open for business, with the guys waving their towels when finished. the mickey d's next door was open, and starting to get faint, settled for that.

have not been in one in a very long time. this one has been remodeled a few times since i was a kid, and since my kids were little. drive thru was hopping, but no line inside. big mac sucked, same as always, but at least you know that going in. filled that grumbly rumbly space in my belly anyway...take that stop growling.

thought about taking a really long way back, but the clouds overhead are really awesome, and when they blocked the sun, totally looked like rain coming.

so here i sit, all downhearted...

no computer, already read all the magazines, guess i'll watch youtube stuff or netflix on my ipad, and wait for turkey.

going home tonight, drive safe everyone!

false alarm

i've been staying at my parents' house the last couple of days, because it's closer to where i work, and i just didn't want to sit in holiday traffic, and enjoy everyone's holiday "cheer" on the freeway.

plus it rained in the middle of the night, last night. and it got slightly weird.

i get up for work before sunrise on weekdays. i had my alarm set for four-forty a.m.

so the alarm goes off. i do my usual inner argument about how nice and comfy the bed is, versus how cold and dark it is outside, so i would probably be better off staying under the covers, and hiding from state taxes. that took five minutes to convince myself to get up, i checked the time again.

into the shower, scrub, scrub, wash everwhere, and rinse off. thought i heard someone outside the door. my dad is a bit of an insomniac, so i am not too worried.

wrapping the towel around me, i peek down the hall. the light is on in my parents' room, which is unusual, since my mom is not an insomniac, goes to bed around midnight, and doesn't wake up until eight or nine most days.

i hear my dad downstairs. he had been installing a new kitchen faucet when i went to bed last night. i hear drilling and the sound of metal wrenches being rifled through in the toolbox.

i go into my parents' room, to find my mom, in curlers, fiddling with her hair. i asked her why she was up so early.

she looks at me strangely, and asks me why i'm awake so early. she'd been helping my dad with the sink, and putting everything away, and was just getting ready for bed. she says it's only almost two a.m.

what the actual fuck. i go back to my room and check my phone. yup two in the morning, and i've just taken my morning shower.

was i dreaming that i'd heard the alarm, had my inner argument, and checked the time again?

fuck.

so, i dry my hair, and go back to bed. change the alarm to five-forty...already took care of shower time. then, i can't go back to sleep. rolled around for an hour or so, and just drifted off to sleep, when the real alarm did go off.

at least it was a short day at work. at least i hadn't gotten fully dressed, had bfast, and driven to the office way too early.

still, what the hell? so, so weird.

i liked this car. a little difficult with it half in shade and half in sun. not really sure why the shoes are sitting there. i'm going to say they're more stylish and subtle than your typical chock block.