what's up?

updated

welcome to my slightly revamped website. i understand it still needs work, but it seems to be working well enough.

maybe i'll just reformat it into pictures up front. i doubt most people want to read my pointless drivel anyway. except you, jimbo, that i know.

supposedly i can mess with the layout and not lose the text if i change my mind later. we'll see.

this shot is from almost a year ago. creeping around before sunrise can get some interesting pictures.

i like old chevrolets, in case you hadn't noticed.

sitting on my ass

early light. it's soft. it's warm. shadows drop gently off into a blur. it passes so quickly, and i move as quickly as possible to the cars catching it to have any chance of seeing the picture my eyes see.

at this show in san fernando, i get there early. so far i've managed to get inside pretty early, though they always run it down the line questioning who/what i am doing there, and should they let me in. promise not to get in the way, pay the entry fee.

this past year, not so many cars were there early. i ended up criss-crossing the football field, to the select cars i wanted to shoot.

this cadillac vaguely reminded me of another cadillac i used to shoot (now he drives a buick), mostly because of the color, not the year.

i liked the reflection of the sky and palm trees across the trunk.

i've spent my day alternating between sitting on my ass doing nothing, sitting on my ass futzing with a revamped website, and sitting on my ass driving out for lunch.

woke up with rain falling loudly outside the windows. rain that they had predicted earlier in the week, then moved to monday. stupid weather people. good thing i had no plans.

better half wanted to walk uptown for breakfast, but it was still lightly raining, and i didn't feel like it. maybe tomorrow.

i wondered if the latin gents still did car shows on the first saturday of the month, but didn't find any hint of it online, so with no other reason to drive to westminster, decided to stay put. still another week till the swap meet in pomona. now i'm wondering about the swap meet in long beach tomorrow. are there cars there, for show, or just parts?

spent the majority of the day figuring out how to make the updated website do things i wanted it to do, stuff that didn't transfer over from my original site. it's aggravating not knowing, or realizing limitations or stuff they don't support anymore. it's also satisfying when i do figure it out. better half wonders why i don't just call the twenty-four seven customer service.

no, nothings changed; right now you're still looking at the old version. i haven't hit the switch yet. maybe tomorrow, if i can figure out/remember how to transfer my domain.

even then, i will have to spend weeks tweaking it. aggravating.

spring cleaning

1946 chevy fleetline

i've found, the best part about the end of the football season, is the super cruise at hillco fasteners in garden grove, on super bowl sunday. basically a car show in an industrial park, and cars cruise by up and down the street, in the early hours before game time. we get there early, so avoid so many people moving through shots, or cars crowded together.

found this chevy next to this building with some interesting cinder blocks, that catch the morning light with the embossed patterns. can't quite tell if it belongs to a club, since i don't see any plaque. it's close to where the dukes usually park, but i don't think it's one of theirs.

spent a good portion of my day off bagging up clothes i don't wear anymore, tossing stuff in the closet. better half has been complaining that he doesn't have enough drawer space, so now he has three more back. now if i could only figure a way to give him half the closet back for his giant tshirts or pants, he'd be a happier camper.

looks like the transfer of my website stuff to a trial design completed after only three days. i still have some time to fart around with layouts to decide if i want to bother changing it up now. i suppose i will end up doing it anyway, to stay current with my web provider. just another system to figure out how to make it do what i want. they think it's simpler to work with, but i don't, and i can't figure out some things yet.

not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. i think they should just make all holidays require four day weekends, not just because the specific holiday happens to be on a sunday.

better half's mother is already asking about taking down the tree. he'll leave it up as long as he can possibly delay it. i think he told her by valentine's day. that will also piss off the landlord, cuz he can't make him take it down.

2017

1953 chevy bel air

hey, guess what? i didn't go anywhere this morning. too many shows to choose from, no recommendations, and just didn't feel like it.

so i'm starting this year off in a mood. and i'm trying real hard to bite my tongue and keep the peace. feeling a little back slide into by shell. i blame that on that ahole at the dukes show. still pretty pissed about that.

meanwhile, i've been filling my calendar with dates for upcoming car shows that i've enjoyed in the past. already know i'm going to miss chicano park day this year, as i have a business trip planned for that week/weekend. oh well.

relatives are in town, here in whittier, and at my mom's house.

holy hell, a plane just flew really low and made a tight u-turn, heading in for the landing at lax. yep, we are in the landing pattern here. just don't usually see them so low except when it's windy or rainy, which doesn't seem to be the case, as far as i can tell from this window seat.

sorry, got distracted by the big, shiny object.

anyway, hoping to see some old cars cruise by after the shows, heading through uptown. maybe i'll chase them with my iphone, but i don't feel like hauling my gear out. better half just pointed out a black and red sixty-one impala driving by...and so it begins.

kermit

1962 chevy impala

i guess i'll put this up for the end of the year.

they always seem to park this car under the solar panels behind the bleachers at san fernando. i suppose for the shade later in the day, as it's usually freakin hot later in the afternoon.

i don't remember it being that hot this year, but then, i get hot flashes, so i overheat in the winter, so it probably was for me.

anyway, caught it early, before they popped the trunk and the hood. while a little bit of sun was still creeping low, under the solar panels.

they don't seem like the friendliest guys, but they're busy setting up, so they probably just want me outta the way.

sitting in my window, watching the clouds grow darker, going to rain again soon. got up this morning and walked uptown, saw rogue one. it was ok, as far as the search for more money goes, and it did tie in at the end to the original star wars.

had yesterday off from work, and have been effing around with updating my website. doesn't seem to be importing this here current version, progress bar isn't moving. i do have more than a couple of pages here, so it might just be taking it's sweet time.

i really do not want to manually copy and paste every single entry. and the programming interface is all different, so pretty sure it isn't going to come over simply anyway.

guess i'll work on my latest batch of stuff to send in to the copyright office.

also, there seem to be several different new year's day car shows this year. majestics, the one we usually go to, have moved out to wilmington this time. together car club is at the dam this year. there's another out by dodger stadium, and i'm pretty sure i saw flyers for one in anaheim or buena park and somewhere else. such a dilemma. don't know where to go, or if i'll go out at all.

haven't seen the photographers or car owners of the stuff i like, posting which one they'll be heading out to, so i'm at a loss. someone recommend one to me, please, so i can talk myself into getting out of a nice warm bed before the sun comes up.

visitors

1947 chevy fleetmaster

another from the oldies san fernando show last summer. early on, there just weren't as many cars as compared to previous years. that allowed me to get out and shoot without a lot of people or even other cars getting in the way.

these just look like they randomly parked on the field, but the pop up tent ruins that thought, as it ruins the picture. i really hate pop up tents. but i love the cars, so i'll selectively not see it there in the background. fuckin’ tents.

am i right?

1958 cadillac coupe de ville

had this posted on flickr and instagram for a few days, before someone commented that i'd tagged it as a fifty-nine instead of a fifty-eight. i really do appreciate the corrections. makes it easier to search for what you're looking for, when it is correctly identified, especially when you want to see a picture of your own car.

i like the color of the car with the color of those flowery trees back there. i'd drive this, even if it is purple.

hoping to work from home tomorrow. only a few people in the office. was supposed to rain, but i think they've changed their minds and it will rain friday and saturday, but still. traffic will suck in the afternoon, because it just does.

a picture

1939 chevy master deluxe

i'm having a brain freeze between xmas and new year, so i'll give everyone a break from the chasm between my ears, that is full of random thoughts.

here's a picture of a nice car. i wouldn't mind finding one of these under my xmas tree, if not a fleetline.

xmas day

another nice truck. figured a green one should be followed by a red one for xmas. i think this one belongs to @reyfierro. he was in the driver's seat, when it was moved over to use as platform to shoot some other cars from higher point of view. he seems nice. he says hi to me now, when i see him out there with his camera.

first thing this morning had one more thing to bake, then headed on over to my mom's for the day. my kid and his wife were going to be stopping by before heading over to his dad's house. i'll be having dinner with my mom and dad. my sister is somewhere tromping through south america, and my bro won't land at lax until this evening.

better half stayed at home, to keep his mom company. he won't leave her alone for xmas dinner, and it's too cold to take her down there for dinner. besides, they stocked up on tamales, so they're set for the night.

i'll either stay at my mom's, or if my kid brings his dog, i'll take the dog home and stay at my own house for the night.

i think i've run out of things to say for now. maybe i'll just post pictures and shut up for a few days.

night before

1930 ford truck

been baking all day. now waiting for some taffy to cool enough to pull it, but i'll still get a first degree burn on my hands. better half says he'll help pull the stuff.

this stuff is all for people for whom i had no ideas on what gift to give, save for some of their favorite sweets. sad, but better than nothing. and i have no xmas spirit anyway, just going with the flow.

i don't have too many pictures of cars decorated for the holidays, though i know i saw more than a few. i think i mostly passed them by. none of them made me go wow.

so this old truck will have to do, with it's bit of tinsel and swag. i'll break my own rule about shooting cars with company advertising on them, but here's an exception. it's a nice truck.