Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Last Monday, I saw an item on cnn.com about a street in Pico Rivera named Dork St. Of course, my first thought was to look it up on the map and see if it was close enough to ride to. It turns out to be just below Whittier Narrows Dam, so I wrote to Gene and we made plans for a ride.

We met at Victory Park here in Pasadena and headed south. We went through San Gabriel, passing by the convalescent hospital where Curly Howard died. Then we turned south through Whittier Narrows and into Pico Rivera.

When we got to Dork St., I had to take some pictures. Sadly, my photo-op with the sign didn’t come out very well, so I guess we’ll have to go back again some time.

After that, we got on the San Gabriel River bike path and headed north. The path took a kind of strange route around and over the dam, but the rest of it was pretty much straight and slightly uphill. It was along here that Newton met up with us for the ride into Glendora. We also passed the big Irwindale gravel pit, which was also Fred Flintstone’s gravel pit.

Then we headed east and north into Glendora. In Old Town, we saw a store that apparently specializes in Beanie Babies. And I’d thought that Beanie Babies had peaked some years ago.

Next, it was time to see the Castle. Rubel’s Castle is something of a landmark in Glendora. Sadly, like all good castles, it was surrounded by a high wall, so we couldn’t see much. Still, it was interesting.

From there, we headed back by way of the San Gabriel River bike path, and then through Duarte, Monrovia, and Arcadia.

51 miles.

cycling

Today, Lucinda’s class did a little performance at lunchtime. The had been rehearsing some songs for the last few weeks, and today was the day that they invited the parents to come and see. So they all filed in and took their places on the front steps of the school. They sang “It’s a Grand Old Flag”, “America the Beautiful”, “God Bless America”, and “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”. It was all very cute.

It was also an interesting adventure, since I rode my bike to the school from the office. It’s about 5.5 miles, and the last bit is pretty steep uphill. It wasn’t bad, though. I’ve done it before. And on the way back, I passed by some filming near Caltech. Whatever this was, it was a big shoot. There were trucks and trailers parked along the streets for a couple of blocks on both sides.

On Saturday night, we went to the opening party for the new exhibit at the Museum of Neon Art in downtown Los Angeles. This year is the 24th anniversary of the museum, and we’ve been going there for almost all of that time. It’s still our favorite art museum.

There was a pretty good crowd there, and lots of nice neon on display. We saw the dancing devil from last time, as well as some new pieces. And they had food there, too. Lucinda and I chowed down on the chocolate chip cookies. After riding 66 miles that morning, I figured I’d earned some.

There were a number of religious-themed pieces. There was Jesus on a cross decorated with neon and peeps. There was also Jesus painted on beer-bottle caps. There were also some animal pieces. One had a neon frog leaping into a pond, another had a neon frog skeleton, and a third had an animal skull with neon antlers. It was fun.

“Looks like another perfect day
I love L.A.”

Today was a perfect L.A. spring day. On the warm side, sunny, and just very pleasant. Today’s ride was the Foothill Cycle Club ride out to the Getty Center in West L.A. Gene said that the ride would be about 50 miles.

We started out going straight across Eagle Rock and Glendale, where we saw a just-happened car accident. Of course, I took a picture.

Next, we went through the L.A. Equestrian Center, where they have separate horse and bike lanes in the street. We also passed the Bette Davis Picnic Area. We’d heard of Bette Davis Eyes, but not a picnic area. Just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

When we got to Burbank, we passed Warner Bros and headed up the hill. We got onto the beginning of Mulholland Drive and then went up a nice big hill. We stopped to regroup at the scenic overlook above the Hollywood Bowl. There was a tour bus stopped there, so I took a picture of it. The people on the bus were all taking pictures of the HOLLYWOOD sign and the Bowl, so I figured I’d be a reverse-tourist and take a picture of the tour bus.

From there, we continued on up Mulholland. We rode almost the entire length of the Hollywood Hills portion of the road. I stopped at the little park just past Laurel Canyon to refill my water bottle and take in the view of the Valley smog. When we were nearly to the 405 freeway, we turned left on Roscomare and headed down into Bel Air. That was where we saw a rather odd vehicle with the “TV SUCKS” license plate. We continued on down the hill until we got to the bottom, just below the Getty.

It was at this point that I decided that it was getting too late, and I needed to head for home. So I left the group and headed back up the hill on Sepulveda. That was where I joined the Flat Tire Gallery. Since I was alone, I thought I might not be able to get a picture, but then another rider stopped to see if I needed any help fixing the tire. I told him I had it covered, but he helped me by taking the picture. Of course, after he left, I realized that both tubes of glue in my patch kit were dry. So I couldn’t patch the tube, so I had to put in the spare tube. Then I was back on the road.

At the top of the hill, I had to go through the tunnel, and then down into the Valley. I went down into Sherman Oaks, almost as far as the Galleria, as seen in “Valley Girl”. Then it was east on Valley Vista and Moorpark for the ride back across the Valley. It was around this time that I ran out of water, and I started thinking, “I’d really like to be home now”. It was also about this time that there was a magnitude 5.1 earthquake near Bakersfield. This set off my pager, and soon my phone rang, too. There was a problem with the aftershock probability report getting on the web site. So there I was, riding and talking computers at the same time. I can’t even remember how we got anything done before cell phones.

I went back through the Equestrian Center on the way out, pausing briefly to snap a picture of the Bette Davis Picnic Area. Then it was straight across Glendale and Eagle Rock to home.

66 miles.

cycling

He thinks it looks painful. It probably did hurt. But at the same time, I think it’s kind of hilarious, particularly the blast of flame out of the mouth bit:

http://www.torr.org/blog/2005/04/this-is-just-painful-to-watch.html

This is pretty funny:

And this one is in the same vein, but older:

http://www.godhatesfigs.com

We went to see “Downfall” today. This is the story of the last 12 days in Hitler’s bunker, and it’s my nominee for the ‘feel-bad-movie of the year’. But at the same time, it was very interesting. Bruno Ganz was great in the role of Hitler. He was very believable, which is often difficult for actors to pull off when playing a very famous person. This film also makes a good companion piece with “Blind Spot – Hitler’s Secretary”, which we saw a couple of years ago. This film was told largely from the viewpoint of Traudl Junge, the aforementioned secretary. She also appears briefly in the film, speaking at the beginning and the end about her personal feelings of guilt for having been a part of such a monstrous evil.

“I realized that she [Sophie Scholl] was the same age as me, and I realized that she was executed the same year I started working for Hitler. At that moment, I really sensed that it is no excuse to be young.”

Since I can’t go riding on Sunday, I met Newton today and we went out to Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas. It was a perfect spring day, aside from being a little bit windy.

We started at Live Oak Park in Temple City and rode up to Irwindale and the Santa Fe Dam bike path. That was where Newton got the chance to be the latest entry in the Flat Tire Gallery. His tire was one of the ones that has some goop inside it that is supposed to seal punctures, but instead, the goop just sprayed out of the tire and got all over him. Yick. And that’s why I’ve always been skeptical of that goop.

After putting on a new tire, we continued east through Glendora. We took Sierra Madre Blvd until it ended, then we went south a bit and continued east on the old Route 66. In San Dimas, we went south, passing by several stables. Then we continued on into La Verne, where we passed Brackett Field and the drag strip at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds.

From the Fairplex, we went west up the hill through Picnic Valley. Back in 1978 when I used to ride with the Claremont Colleges cycling team, we used to ride around there. We always called it the “Picnic Valley ride”, although I never knew why. It was only today that I saw the “Picnic Valley” sign, so yet another of the Mysteries of the Ages has been resolved.

We rode up Via Verde, over a fairly large hill, coming down the other side into Covina. We were going to stop at a little cafe there, but it was closed. But that was where I saw the Proposition 65-ish warning sign about the building being unreinforced masonry that is unsafe in an earthquake.

After that, we got back into Azusa, passing the old Drive-in there. It was just after that that we were cut off by a guy in a car who wasn’t paying attention. He cut in front of Newton and immediately turned into a parking lot. So I took out my camera and took his picture. Now, what he did was most likely an honest mistake. He wasn’t paying attention, but if he’d owned up to that, it would have been fine. But no. He got belligerent and started yelling and cursing at us. So we just left. But then he caught up to us a few miles down the road and started harassing us. This was truly the tipping point between an honest mistake and Active Stupidity. He got out of his car and tried to challenge us to a fight. But we just ignored him, and he finally went away.

The last part of the ride was through Monrovia, where I got into one more fight with a car. A couple in a car pulled up next to me at a stop sign and started turning right across me. So I yelled at them. And they started yelling back. Now I realize that there are lots of bike riders who don’t follow the rules of the road, but I’m not one of them. But while I was presenting what I think is a valid complaint – you don’t turn right through another vehicle – they just kept yelling at me about how bike riders don’t stop for stop signs. So whatever.

Anyway, when it was all said and done, it was actually a pretty pleasant ride.

57 miles.
cycling

For the record, the CVC sections that they violated are:

21750. The driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle or a bicycle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left at a safe distance without interfering with the safe operation of the overtaken vehicle or bicycle.

22107. No person shall turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a roadway until such movement can be made with reasonable safety and then only after the giving of an appropriate signal in the manner provided in this chapter in the event any other vehicle may be affected by the movement.

22108. Any signal of intention to turn right or left shall be given continuously during the last 100 feet traveled by the vehicle before turning.

22109. No person shall stop or suddenly decrease the speed of a vehicle on a highway without first giving an appropriate signal to the driver of any vehicle immediately to the rear when there is opportunity to give the signal.

I was recruited for this by Carol. I’m not usually a ‘joiner’, but here goes:

You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book would you want to be?

Not being familiar with this story beyond the barest essentials, and because Carol already staked out 1984, I’ll have to go with another Orwell story: Animal Farm. I read this when I was about 10 or 11, and I really liked how the animal characters allowed us to see human behavior from an outsider’s viewpoint.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Hrm. Not recently. I don’t read much fiction. When I was 11 or so I read A Wrinkle in Time and I remember thinking that I’d like to meet a nerdy smart girl like Meg.

The last book you bought is:

Astro Turf by M.G. Lord. A kind of weird mishmash of history of JPL and the space program along with musings about gender roles and her father. It was tremendously entertaining.

The last book you read:

Confessions of a Raving Unconfined Nut. Paul Krassner’s memoir of the Sixties. Lots of funny stories about life in the counterculture. Krassner was one of the original Yippies. I still remember all the talk about Yippies and the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention. It’s funny to find out a lot of it was all a joke. Highly recommended.

What are you currently reading?

This month’s Scientific American and National Geographic. I guess I’m between books right now.

Five books you would take on a desert island:

Rivethead by Ben Hamper. Fear and loathing and lotsa laughs on the assembly line at General Motors.
Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition by Ed Regis. Weird science and even weirder scientists doing it.
The Control of Nature by John McPhee. When it’s Man vs. Nature, guess who usually wins? A very entertaining collection of stories of human hubris.
Floating off the Page by the Wall Street Journal. Funny articles from the center column of the Journal. Radium water tonic, rat restaurants, a reporter eating a five-pound steak. It’s all in here.
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman. I learned lock-picking from this book. It’s also very funny.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 people) and why?

I dunno. Most of the people I know who read interesting stuff don’t have blogs. If I break the chain, am I going to die?

Since Lucinda is off school this week, we made arrangements to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Cathy scored some free tickets a while back, so the conditions were perfect. We went with Heather and Jacob from up the street, as well as their mom.

When we got there, we wanted to see the otter feeding, but the tank was empty for cleaning. I guess the otters were in a motel somewhere. So instead we went outside so that Heather and Lucinda could pet the rays and touch the starfish and anemones. Then it was feeding time for the sharks in the touch tank. That was entertaining, even if they are all fairly docile sharks.

We also saw a diver in one of the tanks, cleaning the kelp leaves. I wonder how they put that into a job description.

We went into the Lorikeet Forest, and Lucinda managed to persuade one of the birds to land on her arm, so she was happy.

They had one exhibit of shark eggs with little windows in them. We could see the little sharks wriggling around inside. Very Alien-esque.

Later on, we went back inside and saw feeding time at the South Pacific exhibit. They had three divers in the tank handing out food and being mobbed by the fish. One of the divers had a microphone and she talked to us and described what was happening. That was an interesting addition to the show.

When it was time to leave, we took a moment to see the driver’s-eye view of a bit of the Long Beach Grand Prix course, since we had to cross the street to get back to the parking structure. Then we headed home, getting immediately stuck in traffic on the freeway. Have I mentioned recently that I love living in L.A.?

There are also a few more pictures in Lucinda’s photo album.