Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Today I went down to Long Beach to the Queen Mary for the Ink ‘n’ Iron show. This just keeps getting bigger and bigger every year.

I got there earlier than I have the last few years, which made parking easier. I went inside and commenced wandering around. I saw a lot of familiar faces, and got to visit with old friends. And I even got a new mailbox. There was one booth that was selling mailboxes hand-painted with hot-rod flames. And he had a box-type one, so I just had to get it.

It was a very fun afternoon, even though I had to leave early to go home to pick up Lucinda. And nothing beats a new hot-rod mailbox.

Back in April, the reverse shift cable in my car broke. It turns out that my car is so old that the part is discontinued and is apparently impossible to find. Even the junkyards in Sun Valley didn’t have one. So it appeared to be time for a new car, for the first time since 1990.

Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I went used this time. Not wanting to deal with typical car salesmen, I went to Carmax. Very easy and simple. The only non-simple part of it was that the car I decided on was at their store in Buena Park, and couldn’t be transferred. So in the end, I had to figure out how to get myself down there to pick it up.

It turned out that Metrolink has a station in Buena Park, not far from the car place. So after work, I took the Gold Line downtown and got on the first Metrolink train going out that way. The Metrolink automated ticket machine was displaying a BSOD. So I had to buy my ticket at the regular window. It was an easy ride. Not very scenic, but pleasant. And when I got there, it was about a half-hour walk. And I bagged my car.

I’m turning 50 this fall. And I know that the stereotypical thing for men my age is to buy a sports car. But I’m embracing middle age. And what could be more middle-aged than a Chevrolet Impala? My mom had a ’62 Impala when I was a kid. Somehow, when I was very young, I figured out that an impala was an animal, but I always envisioned it as something like a hippopotamus. A great blubbery wallowing beast. Because that was my mom’s car. The new models now are not quite such great lumbering beasts, but they still retain the ‘comfy living room on wheels’ feeling. And I think that’s just fine for my middle age.

Sunday’s bike ride was another classic with no hills to speak of. We rode out to San Dimas to get a bagel at the Bagelry.

Along the way, we saw this abandoned couch.

It was cool and overcast the whole way, and it never really warmed up. The jacaranda trees are in bloom now, and the purple flowers made a nice contrast with the gray day. Still, it was a nice ride.

46 miles.
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Today I took Lucinda and her friend Alisha hiking. We went up Echo Mountain above Altadena. This is a very nice local hike, about 2.7 miles each way, with nice views and some interesting ruins at the top. We’d last done this hike two years ago.

We started out from the top of Lake Ave and headed on up the trail. After a while, the girls started to complain about being tired, but I convinced them to soldier on. We stopped for lunch at the two-mile marker. When we got close to the top, Lucinda started running. And when we reached the top, they were both very happy to have made it.

We poked around the ruins of the Echo Mountain House, and the girls tried out the Echo Phone. They were very entertained by the echoes coming back across the canyon.

It was a fun afternoon adventure.

Today’s ride was the “No Tuna For Me” route. The last time we’d done this route, I noticed another hot-rod mailbox along the way, but I wasn’t able to get a picture of it that day. So today’s mission was to find the mailbox and add it to my collection.

It was a small group today. Just Silvio and me. But this worked out all right, since we’re pretty evenly matched, and so we didn’t have to wait for any slower riders. We just cruised through the route at a nice, brisk pace.

We rode across Eagle Rock, where we saw a large oak tree that had apparently fallen over. Then it was on, across Glendale and into Burbank. We briefly met up with a large group of riders there, but then they turned off to go up La Tuna Canyon. We went straight, into Sun Valley and the auto-wrecking ghetto there, and then past the dump and on into horse country. That was where we saw the chicken mailbox, which was pretty funny.

Coming out on Sunland Blvd, I spotted my quarry. I bagged that mailbox, and now I have nine in my collection. So the day was a success.

We rode across Tujunga and then down into Montrose. Up Hospital Hill, where we stopped at Goldstein’s Bagels for a snack. Then it was (almost) all downhill back into Pasadena and home. It was a nice ride.

43 miles.
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Due to her mom’s new job, I had to take off work this afternoon to take Lucinda to the last day of horseback riding. This is only the second time I’ve taken her there, and the other time was the first time.

I was hoping they’d be riding in the ring, but they did a trail ride instead. So I just took a few pictures as they mounted up to leave, and a few when they got back. In between I read a book I’d brought along. Still, it was nice to see Lucinda enjoying the horse experience. And oddly enough, she rode the same horse today that she’d ridden on the first day.

Pictures are in her photo album.

The earthquake last Sunday evening brought in about 1,500 new subscribers for the Earthquake Notification Service (aka: My Pet Project). The subscriber list now stands at just over 148,000. I’m still planning on having a party when it reaches 150,000, which will likely be sometime around mid to late June.

Sunday’s bike ride was my route up to Tujunga to see the house where “E.T.” was filmed. It’s at the top of a very steep hill, which is the real point of the ride. The last time we did this route was last summer on a very hot weekend. This time it was hot, but not nearly like last year.

We started out from the park and rode up into Altadena. Then over to La Cañada. It was there that Don spaced out and ran into a jogger. The jogger was fine, but Don fell and hurt his knee. So after a quick cleanup, he headed back home. We continued on, up the hill.

In Montrose, we saw a deer trotting down the street, followed closely by a truck from L.A. County Animal Control. The deer turned off down a side street, and the truck followed it.

Heading up La Crescenta Blvd, we ground up the long hill. Then John’s chain started skipping. We had a look at it and saw that one of the pins was coming out, and the chain was about to break. So he turned back.

When we got to the top, we rode across into Tujunga, and finally up the hill to Elliott’s house. At the top, we looked at the view for a few minutes before going back down. Then it was all downhill back to Montrose and and our snack stop at Oven Fresh.

The most fun thing about Oven Fresh was always the orange juice machine. It was terribly entertaining to watch, and the juice was good. But this time, it was gone. They said that it had broken down, and that they were not going to fix or replace it. So I guess that about wraps it up for that place.

After the snack stop, we went down the long hill into Glendale, and then turned and rode Chevy Chase back up and over to La Cañada again. Then east into Pasadena, and back to the park. It was a nice ride, and we did something like 3,700 feet of climbing.

42 miles.
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On Saturday night, Shari and I went over to Hollywood. The occasion was a party and book signing at Antebellum Gallery for my friend Elayne’s new book, The Piercing Bible. I’ve known Elayne for more than 20 years now, and seeing her is always a treat.

The art on display at the gallery was an odd mix of old Bettie Page bondage pictures, clown paintings, and photos of amputees. And the crowd that turned out was equally entertaining. I saw a number of people who I hadn’t seen in many years. I also got to introduce Shari to my friends Nina Hartley and Ernest Greene. That was some fun.

It was a very fun evening. And as a piece of trivia: I’ve known Elayne since 1987, but she’s never actually stuck a needle through me. The one time I had an appointment to get pierced by her, she called in sick and so Jim Ward did it instead.

Today’s bike ride was a little sightseeing trip around northeast Los Angeles. We met at Live Oak Park in Temple City and then set out to the west.

The group quickly broke up, and the ‘fast group’ consisted of me and Gene. We rode across San Marino and South Pasadena into Highland Park. We had a quick side trip to peek into Heritage Square. Then we crossed the freeway and headed up Mt. Washington to pass the Self-Realization Fellowship at the top. Then down the very steep and rough route back into Highland Park.

From there, we headed north, back into Pasadena. The actual ride route had us going back to Temple City, but Gene and I both bailed and went home. It was a nice ride.

34 miles.

Addendum: There was one bit of unpleasantness on this ride. On my way down to Live Oak Park, I was run off the road by a jerk in a minivan. I yelled at him, and he just moved over into my lane and pushed me off the road. Memo to motorists: If you’re going to drive like an asshole, don’t do it in a car with an easily-remembered vanity plate. Yes, “SQSH NUT”, I’m referring to you. And I’ll be looking for you.

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