Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Lucinda had a sleep-over at Aunt Maggi’s house this weekend. On the way down on Saturday, we went to Irvine Regional Park in Orange. We went through the little zoo there and Lucinda spent some time climbing on a fallen tree. On Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa came over the Aunt Maggi’s house. They all went to the park and fed the ducks.

Pictures from Irvine Regional Park: http://1134.org/lucinda/photos/index.php?string=&ayear=2003&amonth=3&aday=8&byear=2003&bmonth=3&bday=8&submit=Search

Went to hear Taner Edis give his talk, “The Ghost in the Universe” at the Skeptics Society today. He laid out the case for why the universe and science do not give us any evidence for the existence of God. For more information about this, see Taner’s web page at http://www.truman.edu/~edis/books/ghost

Afterward, we went to Aunt Maggi’s house to pick up Lucinda after her sleep-over.

Lucinda started gymnastics classes again today. Maybe now she can learn to do a cartwheel like she’s been talking about for some time.

Went to the Herbert Gallery in Echo Park to see the “You Are What You Wear” exhibit. Found out that the show is not actually opening for another week, but we sat for a few pictures, so we might actually end up being part of the show when it opens next week.

Lucinda’s fourth birthday party was today. She invited all the kids from her preschool. We had a house full of screaming kids. It was quite an experience. There are pictures in her photo gallery: http://1134.org/lucinda/photos/index.php?string=&ayear=2003&amonth=3&aday=1&byear=2003&bmonth=3&bday=1&submit=Search

Went to see “Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary” today. This was a filmed interview with Traudl Junge, who was one of Hitler’s personal secretaries. She worked for him all the way through the war, and was in the bunker at the end. It was interesting to hear her talk about him as being quite pleasant in person, and how she liked him at the time. And then to see how she had to reconcile that with what she found out after the war about the evil he was responsible for. Overall, it was very interesting, and presented a different view than most historical documentaries.

This evening, we went to a special Valentine’s Day dinner the the Fenyes Mansion at the Pasadena History Museum. We got to wander around the mansion, had some nice appetizers, and finally, a nice catered dinner. We’ve done this now two years in a row, and it’s been fun each time.

It’s pretty obvious now that Lucinda is a child of the computer age.We were watching “The Simpsons” tonight when the local Fox station had some kind of technical problem. The screen went blank, save for the Fox logo. Lucinda went to the TV, turned it off, counted to 10, and then turned it back on. I tried to tell her that that wouldn’twork, since the TV wasn’t made by Microsoft, but she didn’t really understand.

Today we went to the Fullerton Museum Center to see “Barsoom to Blade Runner: Science Fiction in Southern California”. This was great fun. They had scripts, posters, and props back to the 1930s Frankenstein movies. They also had one of the spaceships from “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Also, props and costumes from the original “Star Trek”, including an actual tribble.

Afterward, we went into the other gallery at the museum to see an exhibit about the history of Fender guitars. Apparently, Leo Fender lived in Fullerton all his life, and so his company has been a part of the city for a long time.

Went to UCLA tonight and saw “We Sold Our Souls for Rock ‘n’ Roll”. This film is a documentary about Ozzfest, following the tour around the country and interviewing the bands and the fans who come to the show.

This film was a hoot. It was a lot like “This is Spinal Tap”, but in real life. Highlights included the MC whipping the crowd into a frenzy, telling them “Ozzy is backstage and he can HEAR YOU”, while Ozzy was sitting backstage petting a puppy in his lap. Another funny bit was when one of the bands’ bus was repossessed at one of the tour stops. Finally, at the end, Ozzy and Sharon come home to Beverly Hills. Ozzy immediately goes over to the planter in front of his house and pisses in it.

If this film ever gets a distibutor and gets released, go see it.

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0281365