Stan’s Obligatory Blog

The hummingbird is still nesting. I haven’t seen the baby hummingbirds sitting up yet, but that should be coming in the next few days. The mother is still sitting on the nest most of the time, and just flying off to feed for a few minutes at a time.

And I’m still nesting. Lamb loin chops with fennel-rosemary-thyme spice rub grilled over an oak wood fire, mashed potatoes garnished with chives from my little spice garden, and broccoli cooked Italian-style with olive oil and garlic. It was pretty good. And I have enough left over for three lunches this week.

So the little hummingbird and I are buddies. We’re both getting by on our own.

Today’s ride was a Carpenters theme route. We rode to Downey to see the “Close to You” and “Only Just Begun” apartments, and also to see their old house, which was pictured on the cover of their 1973 album, “Now and Then“.

We rode straight south down through San Gabriel and then on Rosemead Blvd down to Downey. We stopped off at the oldest operating McDonald’s at the corner of Lakewood and Florence. Then we rode over to see the two apartment buildings that Karen and Richard Carpenter bought and named for their first two hit songs. Then we rode back across Downey to see their old house on a cul-de-sac right near the 5 freeway. There was an article about the house in the L.A. Times a couple of weeks ago, since the owner is trying to get a permit to tear it down and build a new McMansion on the lot. Apparently, there’s a lot of that going on in that area.

On the way home, we tried to stop off to see Dennis the Menace Park in Downey, but the entrance was not on Lakewood Blvd, and it was not obvious from peering through the fence how to get to the entrance. So that photo-op will have to wait for another day.

When we got back to Rosemead, we saw the ‘Welcome to Rosemead’ sign, with the slogan, “Where city pride is justified.” And, I guess, “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

By the time we got back to the park, it was a very nice day. So I rode a bit more, just to enjoy the sunshine.

46 miles.
cycling

Today’s ride was the Crown City Trainer, which is another way of saying that it’s a ride that doesn’t really go anywhere in particular, but it does go up and down some hills.

It was cold, overcast, and misting a little this morning. But I still wanted to go riding. We met at the park down the street from my house, so that was easy. And the ride itself was very pleasant. I took them on a short detour to see the weird house I discovered. But aside from that, it was a pretty unremarkable ride.

At the end, it was getting colder, so we all just headed for home.

31 miles.
cycling

Here’s an update on the hummingbird nest in our back yard.

The hummingbird’s eggs have hatched. Lucinda and I took a quick peek inside the nest when she left to go feed. And there they are. They must have just hatched. This should be interesting to watch. And I hope they won’t be too bothered by having a bunch of kids in the yard tomorrow for Lucinda’s birthday party.

Tonight I went to see “Varla Jean Merman Loves a Foreign Tongue” at Ultra Suede in West Hollywood. I went with my friend Nick, who is also a big fan of Ms Merman.

We got there early, so we got to sit in front. We shared a table with the one non-gay couple there. I’d met them at Varla’s show last year.

The show was very funny, and overall it was tremendously entertaining. And afterward, Varla held court in the back of the room, selling DVDs of her third video collection, signing autographs, and posing for pictures. Nick and I both remembered to bring our cameras this time, so we got our souvenir pictures with La Merm.

It was a fun evening.

I found a hummingbird nest in the back yard. So now I have company in my nesting behavior.

Edit: I added another picture when I got home from work. As usual, my camera rocks.

Cooking is still one of my most favorite ways to express creativity and reduce stress. So I’ve been trying a lot of new recipes lately. Tonight I made Thai-Style Chili Beef.

It was quite good. Very tasty. The recipe used Thai basil instead of the cilantro-mint mix that Cooks used. Since I had cilantro and mint, but no basil, I went that route. I used jalapeño peppers, which I was hoping would give it a good kick. As it turned out, they were quite mild. Next time, I’ll try serranos.

Still, it was very good. Lucinda and I liked it a lot.

Today’s plan was that Lucinda and I were going to go see the final stage of the Tour of California over at the Rose Bowl. But it was raining today. The race was still on, but standing outside in the rain all afternoon just didn’t seem like it would be all that much fun. So I talked to Lucinda, and we decided to go to Musink. We brought along her friend Alisha, since she’s also an “L.A. Ink” fan. I took them to visit the High Voltage Tattoo shop in Hollywood last month.

We got down there at about 1:30, and it was already hopping. It was the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen on a Sunday afternoon at a tattoo convention. We stashed our jackets under the table at my friend’s booth and set off to wander around. They had a sign up at the High Voltage booth that said that Kat, Kim, and Hannah were going to be greeting fans at 5:00. We talked to the people in the booth and asked them what time we should plan on getting in line, and they said 4:00.

We wandered over to the vendors’ building, and Lucinda and Alisha both got little glitter temporary tattoos. I also stopped off at the Burning Angel booth just to show Lucinda’s second-grade school ID to Joanna Angel. In her picture, Lucinda had a bright red streak in her hair, just like Joanna has now. She thought that that was very cute.

Back in the tattoo building, we saw Kim at one of the booths, so we stopped to talk to her and get a picture with her and the girls.

By this time, it was about 3:30, and a line was already forming to meet Kat. So we got in line. The sign had said she would be out at 5:00, but she came out earlier, since the line was so long. We all got our pictures with her, and she also signed Lucinda’s shirt that we’d bought last month when we visited the shop.

After all that excitement, we went back to the vendors’ building and Lucinda bought a set of makeup brushes, and I got a print from Matt Kotch, who is an artist who does paintings of weird sea creatures.

By the time we left, it was time for dinner, so we stopped off and ate before heading home.

It was a fun time.

Last Monday when we were on the way home from playing in the snow, I saw a mailbox with hot-rod flames on Padua Ave in Claremont. I have a small collection of photos of mailboxes like this. Now, I could have just stopped the car and taken a picture of it then, but I thought, “where’s the fun in that?” It didn’t seem very sporting. I thought it would be much more fun to get the bike club and ride out there from Pasadena to take the photo. So that’s what we did today.

The ride out was pretty straightforward, and it was a bit of a slog, since we had a headwind all the way. When we got to Claremont, we stopped for a snack at a little bakery by the Laemmle theater there. Then we took a winding tour across the campus of the Claremont Colleges, before heading up the hill on Mills Ave.

A short distance up the hill, we turned and rode over to Padua Ave, where I found the mailbox and photographed it. Then we turned around and started for home.

The ride back was everything that the ride out wasn’t. There was a nice tailwind, and a good bit of it was downhill, so we really enjoyed it. Even when Doug got a flat in Glendora, we still remained in good spirits. So overall, it was a very fun little ride.

58 miles.
cycling

Lucinda and I have become fans of “L.A. Ink”, so when they said that they were going to put on a tattoo and music show, we put it on our calendar. As it turned out, Lucinda decided that she didn’t want to go in the end. She was intimidated by the prospect of crowds and noise. But, since tattoo shows are one of my most favorite things, I went by myself.

I went on Friday afternoon. Getting down to the O.C. in Friday traffic was a bit of an epic journey, but I got there all right. And parking was free, which was a nice treat. That sort of made up for the steep $28 ticket price.

When I got inside, I saw that it was going to be a good show. There were notices on all the doors warning us that “each person in attendance irrevocably consents to being filmed or videotaped and releases the producers and users of such film or videotape from any liability…throughout the world in perpetuity.” Well, that about covers it, don’t you think? It was only 3:30, and there was a good crowd there already. And the camera crews gave it a circus-like quality that most tattoo shows don’t have. I wandered around and found some of my friends and talked for a bit. Then someone said that Kat Von D was at the High Voltage booth and greeting fans. I figured I had to get a picture with her to bring home for Lucinda, so I went and stood in the very long line for my turn. I don’t normally get star-struck, but Kat seemed very nice, and she was hot. But then again, I have a known weakness for pretty girls with lots of tattoos.

Wandering around some more, I went into the music room to see one of the tattoo contests. The stage was good, but the lighting wasn’t. So it was hard to actually see the tattoos. then I wandered over the the vendors’ building. I walked in and saw that Burning Angel had a booth, and Joanna Angel herself was there. (Remember what I said about pretty girls with tattoos.) So I had to stop in and talk to her a bit. She was also very nice, and I got a good souvenir photo with her.

Back in the tattoo building, Hannah’s new tattoo was finished. But before she got up off the table, the camera crew had to come down and film the crowd around her and also go in to the booth and film her. Then she got up and went to get some food.

My final encounter with the stars of the show was when I got to meet Corey. He was standing in the aisle with a tray of french fries. So I got a picture with him to show Lucinda.

The rest of my time there was spent just wandering around and schmoozing. It was a very fun afternoon and evening.

Photos are in my tattoo conventions photo gallery.