what's up?

fetch

long day of meetings. five and a half miles of walking. nbd. see if i can keep that going when i get home.

back from the mile to the ice machine in the other “wing” of the building. me and my little metal pail…la la. la la la. call me jill.

real creepy long halls, waiting for the kid on his pedal bike.

didn’t sleep well last night, only to wake up to no hot water. could be worse—another lady in the elevator had to switch rooms, as there was water leaking from the light fixtures in her bathroom ceiling.

keep running into people i see every couple of years for these meetings. kind of think we need a secret handshake or to yell nanu nanu.

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here’s a sideview of an increasingly well-known chevy, distinguished by it’s wood paneling. it was on a very busy whittier boulevard, so sort of difficult to shoot it from the other side. that, and i was pretty tired by the time i got to it.

fish out of water

third day here in sin city. so out of my comfort zone. the filtration system in the hotel seems non-existent compared to other hotels here. my lungs are burning and seem to take an hour in my room before i feel they’ve de-smoked.

otherwise, it’s been an uneventful day for a change.

briefly thought about seeing one of the cirque de soliel shows, but decided to keep my money and sleep instead. two more days of meetings. only car shows i’ve seen listed are the pns cars like lambos and mazzeratis, and i don’t want to lose my parking space for them. might as well go to a showroom. not even going to the cars and coffee i usually catch on the way out of here. just want to go home.

went to another hotel for dinner. after eight p.m., and it’s still one-hundred and two degrees, cooling down to eighty in the middle of the night.

there’s a sad looking guy dressed in a tattered mickey mouse costumes on the sidewalk, i can’t imagine how he can stand it or what it must smell like in there.

there seems to also be several clusters of wanna be showgirls, half naked and befeathered out there too. some too fat, some too skinny to heve the requisite jugs; all look too harsh and tatted up to be real. just posers for pictures for cash. drunk guys will go for anything it seems.

haven’t been up and out late enough (or early enough) to see the drunk girls being led astray —

“…these pigs are ready”
- the sweetest thing

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here’s an old buick i saw the one time i made it out to lincoln park for the blessing of the cars, several years ago. don’t see many like that out there.

11,579

so much walking around here, i’ve done just under five miles, or 11,579 steps.

was just stepping into my meeting, when my phone rings. had to step out to take the call. it was the guy from the rental car agency asking a favor. he was wondering if i might go to the car and check to see if there happened to be a passport in the glovebox, left by the previous renter of the car. the renter was in tears, going crazy since he needed it for his travels. told him i’d look later. he asked how far away i was, in case i did find it, and coincidently, the weepy guy is also here in vegas, in case it was in the car.

so about halfway through my meeting, during a break, i had to go back to my room, get the keys from the safe, and hike out to the car. hot furnace blast of hot air heading outside to the parking garage. hundred and six this afternoon, so quite a shock, coming out of this air-conditioned haven. up the elevator, too early for parking sharks, past some dude sitting in his car smoking some devil’s weed.

i get the rental guy on the phone and check the glovebox, center console, under the seats, and in the trunk. no luck. feel sorry for the guy.

late, i rushed back to my meeting, now overheating, to find they have continued without me. no big, they didn’t notice.

anyway, back in my room, watching the weather channel, thinking about sleep.

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here’s a hot rod from mooneyes, for something different.

locked out

i think i’ve already walked a mile and a half this morning, these hotels are so huge.

had a non-working toilet when i checked-in, so i’m glad i make a habit of flushing it before i use it when i first arrive. it will soon be an issue, so i call the front desk and wait almost an hour for the engineer.

it’s one of these eco tanks, and taking a peek inside, is a big black plastic receptical and lots of hoses; just no water. was hoping for a room upgrade, as i hadn’t unpacked yet, but he got it “working” in about five minutes. when i say “working,” it’s because it takes at least three flushes to get the paper to go down. going to be asking the owl on how many flushes on the tootsie rolls.

was going to put my own water in the fridge, but it seems to have a combo lock on it…must be an honor bar thing…i see snacks through the little bit it will open.

woke up at seven, couldn’t sleep, so went down to breakfast. got served someone else’s plate, but knew it, and didn’t touch it. belonged to the guy at the next table.

was charging it to my room, but there seemed to be some issue, so i just said i’d use my own card. after that they finally brought my food.

afterwards, i hike back up to my room, which feels like a mile from the elevator, but probably only about a football field, to make a call in privacy to the credit card company to see what’s up. only to find none of the cards to my door will work. means a hike back to the front desk, which already had a line of people to check out that early. concierge was able to help me, without any explanation of the issue.

spent ten minutes on hold before chatting with someone in the credit card’s fraud department. then another five confirming my identity and that i was the one making the charges. this is going to be a pita expense report when i get back. they better accept my justification for a charge at in-n-out for lunch on the way. 😄

meeting at one, housekeeper wanted to come in, but says she will come back later. my stomach is upset. probably the pizza i ate last night from an overly expensive place. wants to claim the food is exactly like the food in italy. well, yes and no on the pizza. it did taste very similar, but was waaaaayyy to salty for no reason. over priced, with fake-friendly service. i give it a six out of ten.

i want to lay down, but i may not want to get up, so i best not try it.

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another shot from front street. i usually don’t fiddle with effects like this, but for this car, this shot, it was all about that front grille. ran into the owner this past sunday, who had seen it up on instagram. she liked it, which is always nice to hear.

in hell

made it to vegas, where it was at least one-hundred and four at some point today.

started by picking up a rental car, then a stop at the shop to see what the hell was wrong with my car, and to express my extreme displeasure about missing a baseball game and having to uber all weekend, and managed to do so without sounding like a karen. told him i was already supposed to be on my way to vegas, but would only be able to wait a couple of hours max, or they have to keep it until saturday. he opted for the week, since preliminary eval was giving them a code of some sort. basically, they fucked up a valve job in some way. they offered to give me a loaner car, but i already had one. was running perfectly fine before, so they better make it right.

first meeting tomorrow afternoon. i’d rather not go, but i will. gonna sleep in tho. definitely don’t need a buffet breakfast, i’m getting so big on these steroids as it is. definitely need to find another solution.

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dunno what the deal with the kustom oldies club is, but saw something dino’s bomb club put up, calling them out for having some pervert amongst them. no specific chapter, just a general no association shout out. sort of like this roadblock at this foursquare church/crossing show…no salvation here.

read a post from harbor area guys saying not them, and that someone was no longer with the other chapter or something. i hope dinos will announce when they have cleaned house and done penance, or i just won’t post any more of their pics.

like that other club, with the guy that grabbed my ass. they can keep fucking off until he goes away. he hangs out with other clubs so i have to be polite when i run into him. asshole. wow i’m still pissed even a year later. nuff said and time for bed.

as i’m typing i can see the volcano going off at the mirage, so this somehow seems appropriate with all the fiery explosions.

what a lame display, btw.

pissed

picked up my car. drove about ten minutes, halfway to the freeway, when my check engine light came on. pulled over, called the shop and ask if that’s to be expected. they said bring it on back.

note it was just about four when i called, which was their closing time.

by the time i get back there, the service office is closed, though there is a woman inside fiddling with paperwork. i stare at her for a bit, and stare at some guys still wandering around the work bays. lady comes out a side door asking if i needed something.

told her i literally picked my car up after they had it all effing day, etcetera…and she says they all left and all i can do is come back monday. fucksticks. back in the car and pull over just a block away, the car sounds wrong and the body shimmies. turned it off to tell better half i was heading back home, but now didn’t think the car would make it, and was returning to the shop.

then it didn’t want to stay on when i turned the key. started the next try, but sounded like it would die if i eased off the gas, so quickly did a u-turn and back to car drop off. found an open door, same lady. said to fill out the night drop envelope and leave the car and key for first thing monday. can’t even get a loaner car for my troubles, cuz no one there to help with that.

called my mom to cancel on the game, so now no one is using the tickets at all, it’s too late, even if i ubered direct to the stadium. and monday i was meant to drive up to vegas, but now i have to deal with my car.

misunderstanding with text messages to my better half resulted in me getting an uber back to the house instead of him coming back for me.

so circle jerk of a day, and i’ll be lucky if i get as far as montebello park in the morning…def can’t get to san fernando. 😞

monday should be interesting anyway. i feel sorry for the manager i’ll be yelling at in an ever so polite way. better half expects i’ll be calling a fatwa on the place if they don’t make it right asap. it’s what i get for taking it to this place for convenience of the location instead of better shops closer to my office. better half would have just taken it to pep boys.

anyway, i’m in a better mood now and my better half can’t understand what i am saying, since his head is under the air conditioner in the window and has a fan pointed at him, both blowing at top speed. he repeats back what he thought i said, which is most definitely incorrect, but thoroughly entertaining.

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heres an old chopped huddie from last year for your troubles. let’s put them behind us as well.

roll with it

sorry to report the power is back on, so game over. probably a rolling blackout. same time, same length of time as last week. thanks dwp.

anyway, my car should be ready to pick up soon. got my mom to agree to going to the game with me. i think i will just randomly give the other two away when i get there.

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here’s one of the older pics that have been languishing in my to do list.

i like the owner; he always says hello. i think his daughter asked me to shoot her wedding a year or two ago, but i turned her down and pointed her to another photographer that does do weddings…not interested in that pressure.

power out again

same game as last week, posting one an hour until i’m out of the pics in my draft mode. power only seems to be out on this block and not uptown. just back from lunch. it’s hot.

left clothes to dry while i was gone; wonder if they finished. trying to cool off first, but no fan…guess a cold shower will work just as well.

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shot this several months ago in diamond bar. nice and overcast. decent turnout. kinda liked the matte blue color for no reason at all.

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setting my timer for one hour….

roofie

my car in for 250k service and better half needs to go to market, etc., so i guess i stay home today. i need to pack for my trip anyway. but it is so wonderfully overcast outside ☹️

i won tickets to an angels v white sox game tonight, but can’t find anyone to go with—i can’t even seem to give them away. almost want to give them to our a-hole neighbors, just so i can park in what they consider their spot on a public street. cops have chatted with them before about their use of traffic cones to save spaces.

better half just picked me up from the shop. said one of them immediately moved one of their many cars to where he was parked. so petty.

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shot this car early last week on front street. not my typical car, but i liked the paint on the roof and there wasn’t a whole lot else to shoot at that point.

owner was nice and dropped the car a bit for me. sometimes you just need a ladder but whatever. i can’t carry just one more thing. i’m tired just pulling a camera bag and carrying a tripod.

and with the tiny steering wheel—seems like it would be hard to drive. better half says, “not with handcuffs.”

bag lady

ya ya. i rarely post anymore. i live out of a suitcase, shuttling between the house of my mother and the home of my mother-in-law. my computer stays put. so if you’re looking for your car from a show, i apologize. it may take a while, but i do mark the few i have promised and do them first.

the owner of this car is sitting behind it, at an angle i’m purposely hiding him. he said hello, so i’ll post his car today.

my own car, meanwhile, is on mile 249,998, and is asking to be serviced. so my question is to have it serviced this weekend and miss big shows, or say fuck it, it can wait until i get back from vegas, and hit up a show on saturday.

i should look up anything going on in vegas, aside from the cars and coffee on my way back.