Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Today’s club ride was Gene’s “San Dimas South” route. The last time we did this one was on a gloomy day in April. Today wasn’t gloomy, but it was cold by SoCal standards.

We took a picture at the start, since Gene and I both had decorated our bikes for the holidays.

Along the way, we saw some amusing decorations on houses, including the big tree decorated with big ornaments. And at then end, we saw a small harem of peahens in Arcadia.

I skipped the snack stop, since I had to get home a bit early to pick up Lucinda, so it was a relatively quick ride. But it was nice.

48 miles.
cycling

In today’s obituary pages, Majel Barrett Roddenberry has died.

Roddenberry, whose pre-“Star Trek” acting career included guest appearances on series such as “The Untouchables” and “The Lucy Show,” had no idea she was establishing a career path in science fiction when she took her first “Star Trek” role.

After “Star Trek” became a phenomenon in the ’70s, she continued on, appearing in both “The Next Generation”, and “Deep Space Nine”, as well as several of the movies. And she provided the voice of the Enterprise computer in most of the movies. And hence her assessment:

“It’s been a hell of a ride.”

Read the whole obituary here.

Last night, Susan took me to the holiday party for the Pasadena Athletic Association. This is the big bike racing club here in Pasadena. I remember them from my racing days back in the late ’70s. At the time, my impression was that they were a small local racing club, and not a huge force like they are today. The actual party reminded me a lot of the party my old club in New Jersey used to hold at the end of each year. But when I went to that party, I was 16 or 17 years old. And now I’m one of the ‘old guys’. It’s always novel to see things from the other side.

It was a nice evening.

Last summer, Susan ordered some special Christmas ornaments for us. She has one at her house, and I have the second one in my office.

I’ve sent out all my Christmas cards, so I put my Christmas letter up on the web site…

This evening, Susan and I were supposed to go out to her friend’s boat in Marina del Rey to watch the light show there, but she decided against it, since it was going to be cold and possibly raining when we got there. So instead, we had a little adventure in the city.

We went to the IMAX theater in Exposition Park to see “Wild Ocean 3D: Africa Meets the Sea”. We saw the “Sea Monsters – 3D” movie last spring, and it was great fun, so this new one was on our list. As always, the photography was impressive and sometimes vertigo-inducing. There were lots of good 3D effects of fish and dolphins and such swimming out of the screen. Good fun.

On the way home, we stopped off in Chinatown for dinner. We had a 1/2 Peking Duck, along with some Chinese broccoli and some soup. That was nice. We also walked around Chinatown for a bit to see the neon signs. We will probably be seeing them again next week on the Museum on Neon Art’s Neon Cruise.

Afterward, we went home, opened a bottle of wine, and watched Julia Sweeney’s “Letting Go of God“. It was a nice evening.

More news from today’s L.A. Times. As one might guess, this is a topic that’s near and dear to me:

Christopher Thompson to be tried in confrontations with cyclists

Bettie Page, the “Queen of the Pinups” has died.

One funny bit from her obituary:

After high school, Page earned a teaching credential. But her career in the classroom was short-lived. “I couldn’t control my students, especially the boys,” she said.

Considering how she’s associated with her photos with whips and such, that’s a funny thought. One would think she’d have had the boys completely subdued.

Read all about it here:

Bettie Page dies at 85; pinup queen played a key role in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and later became a cult figure

I had a nice evening out with Susan. We met at The Melting Pot in Old Town. I brought her a red rose, just to say again how happy I was to see her. We had the “Big Night Out” dinner, complete with a cheese fondue appetizer, salad, main course of beef, fish, chicken, pork, and vegetables, topped off by a chocolate fondue dessert. Yum.

So, after a brief hiatus, we’re back. And that’s a Very Good Thing. We still have worlds to conquer.

…and I like it.

It’s wrongcards.com: ecards that are wrong for every occasion.