OK my day today started out great actually. however a few things are messing it up.. mainly my clumsiness ... well the camera store called and my old Pentax is ready to roll.. it needed a cleaning and one of the lenses was not working correctly..so i had it fixed at Dean's camera repair in the city of Torrance CA... would recommend him if you ever need a repair on your camera.. he's fairly honest and does a good job( at least i think so , just got my camera back). This is good news cause i can take pictures now and pursue my little hobby i have of mine.. that would be taking pictures! Anyway considered buying a brand new camera ..however thought it out and just doesn't make sense .. I mean it is just a hobby of mine taking pictures.. don't think i have ever sold a picture of mine.. i am sure a few folks have stolen a few of my pics online. However what i am trying to say is i am not a professional photographer.if i was the new camera would of been a good option.. anyway have a zoom lens that goes i believe 200 meters and also the standard lens the 55 meter one..(the one that i was having problems with and just fixed). So my external flash is working and a good cleaning.. (it was showing a hair when i took the picture).. but oh the point of this blog.. yes that was the good news today getting my camera back ..the bad news (well nothing major). When i went to the market to purchase some extra fine corned beef from Boar's head brand.. the clerk offered me a sample.. she gave me the corned beef over the counter.. which i proceeded to drop on the market floor. first klutzy move of the day.. second kluty move was when i about prepare my corned beef sandwich at home.. reached for a festive plastic Halloween themed glass .. thought was about time to start using for this month..well there was a wine glass next to it.. that fell on the kitchen floor and shattered.. argggg don't you hate that ..anyway had to clean up the mess and here i am writing my blog .. and about to get ready for a off day.. not sure what i doing .. but i need a shower and shave for sure.. anyway here's a pic from my digital cam a few weeks back (on a off day) down in Huntington beach.. who knows may end up down there today.. far away from Los Angeles...see that city enough during my work week ..anyway thanks for reading about my day .. that is about half way over by the way.. it's a important day for me i am off from work!

OK after going to the market down in Torrance the other day, which buy the way is a great place if you like European export's and a great deli on site.. there's also a great restaurant deli(where i had my lunch on off day) where you can have lunch.. that i would highly recommend .They also have a main dining room too in the village.. i am talking about Alpine Village in Torrance Ca. (the 110 and Torrance Blvd).They have big bands that play during the week in the main restaurant and it's overall a great establishment.. However this is not the purpose of this little blog to promote Alpine village. The purpose of this little blog is I Bought a few items in the market they have on site, and was surprised they wanted to charge me $.10 (that's 10 cents) for a bag.Have been reading about this in the paper and heard though the media that this is coming .. when we have to have our own bags.. apparently it's good for the environment..well was totally unprepared for this, and declined the bag ( i only had two items).. so it's coming folks, glad i was caught off-guard in a small market i don't really frequent to much.However know the day is coming soon when you have to start bringing your own bags very soon in the bigger stores, I frequent more often .. purpose of this little blog, be prepared too

bring your own bags to the market.. odd combination i got , chocolate and beer (the chocolate was for someone i was going to visit) however the beer was for me.. think i had it before and i tend to like the darker beers..however not sure i would recommend, chocolate and beer together..

OK , should of known better after watching this documentary about skid row. watched it on netflick's a month or two back.. anyway this really happened to me yesterday. was killing some time in a park in the valley (sun valley) park i believe . And was starting to get bored . So i thought i would make a tweet . about the location and what i am doing (my twitter addiction that by the way is getting waaaay out of control).So i take a picture of the park which inadvertently had some homeless folks in it. Sure enough after taking my picture (although i was like 50-75 feet away from them) A young homeless man confronted me about the picture i took. I explained to him i wasn't taken a picture of him , but of the park.. He muttered something like you yuppie people are crazy(I am far from a yuppie, but to him i guess i was).Anyway kind of ruined the park for me.. (which actually was kind of ruined by the overwhelming homeless folks that congregate their anyway). so i left. Just don't understand, i mean they are homeless and one thing i read about was the lack of privacy homeless folks already have.. guess the point of this little blog today.. just kind of got irritated on not being to take a picture in a public park. not really sure if i meant to take a picture of them, or was really just taking a picture of the park.But beware of what you shoot i guess is the point of this blog . In the documentary the same thing happened to the folks taken pics of skid row they were also confronted..

So think before you shoot.. i guess ....

too soon for this event.may want to postpone it.

As i was driving back from Pasadena yesterday.. saw this banner for a gun show coming up very soon in the Los Angeles area.My first thought fresh on my mind was we just had a major shooting in Aurora Colorado. If it was the first thing on my mind, sure it was on a lot of other commuters mind on the 110 freeway going thru downtown. Think the organizers of this event may want to postpone this event till Oct. or something.(when like all major news stories,that seem to fade as time goes buy,and Unfortunately folks forget about). In my opinion way to soon to have this event.. my stand on gun control . Well let me put it this way. Growing up in Southern New Hampshire in the late seventies early eighties, mass shootings were extremely rare. Now it just seems like a weekly thing. And i think we are getting Desensitized to these senseless acts. Maybe stricter gun control, and definitely not Assualt like weapons should be sold to the general public. something like that.Anyway i know the picture i am about to post is a little obscure but that's what i was thinking when i saw this banner. this is just my personal opinion,

and actually feel free to leave a comment.

60 songs of the 70's and Amoeba music on Sunset.

guaranteed you be so sick of cheesy seventies songs after listening to this CD in it's entirety, like i did on my shift the other day all 60 songs.. Yes all 60 corny seventies classics .. Actually i really liked this era . Considering I have great memories of growing up in that great decade.Must of been around maybe 7-15 years at the time.. good memories for sure. Great CD all songs, or i wouldn't of bought it. Bought it at

wherehouse records by my apartment.There's another one in Hollywood called Amoeba on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood that i have been meaning to check out.I mean i download songs legally when i can usually on Amazon.com (mp3)'s ,But it's just easier to buy a CD sometimes..Meaning the downloading process can be kind of tedious in my opinion.downloading the songs. paying for it online .. trying to put the songs in the right area on your hard drive. That all adds up. and sometimes for me just buying a used CD is so much easier. Plus i like some of the artwork that comes on certain CD's that you buy. Like I said though after listening to this CD. You will be ready for some hard rock and roll or whatever your genre is.

Netflick

OK found myself watching a great concert film on Net flick last night. Was actually home early and got a chance to watch a great film and would recommend this concert to anyone who has any interest in music. Grew up watching Tina Turner in the eighties .. she was a good performer in some of the videos i saw in the eighties- better be good to me- was one them. .However the film i saw last night she was in here prime and so was Ike . Wasn't really familiar with them in those days (i was only around 7 in 1971).Never seen such a cool cat as Ike Turner. Just had a great presence and kind of stayed backed by the drummer however he gave off the aura of being the leader of the band (hard to explain -watch the documentary).Anyway just got net flick about 5-6 months ago and would highly recommend it. watching all those movies i grew up with in the seventies and watching documentary's on music and history . It's a must.Don't think i could go with out it since we have it now.

The actual train ride was about a hour , my destination was Fisherman's wharf. Don't all tourists flock to Fisherman's Wharf (Pier 39)? Anyway had no idea what station to disembark from the train . So i chose the Embarcadero station (try to pronounce that one if you're not familiar w/ this station). Anyway got off the train and went up to the street level.Asked someone on the street how far Fisherman's wharf was (they told me about 25-30 minutes away. So i gave up on getting to the wharf and hopped on a street car (found out they are different then the cable cars) the cable cars actually have cables underneath the ground, the street cars are different. Very efficient city to get around on the public transportation for sure . When i got on the street car i had no idea which direction i was going (i don't know this city very well, have been there quite a few times- maybe like 6-8 times before) but definitely don't know it like Los Angeles. Started talking to someone on the train that was really nice and she helped me get around, and by looking at the map on street car itself, somewhat helpful. Anyway ended in the Union square area and was looking for a place for lunch. Was actually in the mood for some seafood, however my friend from Los Angeles used to do design work for Macy's in San Francisco and recommended a place called Lefty O'Douls.. similiar to a Boston Irish bar ( i fit right in ) found it and was really good. They had a carving station for Prime rib,mashed potatoes , corn somewhat like a cafeteria style where you chose your sides . Really good and somewhat reasonable.After lunch my mission was to find Chinatown (it's one of the largest Chinatown's in the country).Found it (will try to get you the link of my you tube video see if it works) . After Chinatown found North Beach, this seems to be the Italian section of town (also the red light district) At this point was getting tired of walking and knew i had to get back to that pool at the hotel before 9:00 pm (when the pool closed) so that's just what i did.. San Francisco is a great city and would recomend it to anyone that has never been there for sure

The next day after the graduation was kind of needing a getaway (from my family) so i decided to take the Bart out of Pittsburgh into the city. Had never been on the Bart and thought it would be kind of fun to explore San Francisco. Drove to the Bart station from the hotel and parked the car . The station is kind of confusing if you have never been to it before . They provided parking and such. However you had to pay a dollar to park there for the day. Wasn't sure how to do this (guess you had to jot down your spot and pay somewhere). When i got to the station, there was a gentleman in the booth who i asked. He told me didn't have to pay on Sunday which was a relief . .However the actual ticket itself was all self serve and extremely confusing if you have never been on the Bart . Anyway put my credit card in payed $20.00 (think actually i only had to pay $11.00) but i was in a rush to catch the train and asked someone later about it . Apparently if you have credit on the ticket, you can use it at a later time (till it expires) anyway gave the ticket to my brother's ex-wife, she lives up there and could get some use out of it...

OK need to finish this blog (it's incomplete) so the reason i went up to San Francisco was my nephew was graduating from high school . The graduation was at 9am on Saturday which was fairly early i thought. Anyway really nice campus and nice ceremony at a Northern California high school. The high school was Heritage high in Brentwood (please note this is Northern CA. Brentwood not Los Angeles Brentwood) there are two, which can be kind of confusing.. Anyway it went really well. Actually don't think i have ever been to a graduation from High school. I mean i graduated from high school , but i don't recall going to the ceremony .Anyway it was done really well and the weather was really windy , however sunny .. tried to set up a link on this for this video i had of it, but it blew up on me (didn't work).. anyway a graduation is probably not the most exiting thing for you all, and will move on.

When i finally got to the hotel.

Just was glad to get there after 5 and a half six hours of driving. My wonderful brother (being a bit sarcastic) had assured me we would have to separate beds. Unfortunately there was a large queen size bed and a pull out couch for me! Anyway gave him a call (he was at the Giant's game w/ my nephew) and asked him what was up? He told me it was the only room available ( it was busy up there because there were like two or three schools having a graduation) .Anyway was just glad not to be driving . The pool area was closing at nine and i believe it was about 8:20pm PT- when i arrived. Needless to say the hotel had a Jacuzzi and you know i spent every minute till nine in that ..

Finally made it...

After leaving Santa Nella my destination was only about a hour and 15 minutes from there..Was looking forward to getting to my destination and starting a long well deserved rest and or break from work .. you see i hardly ever get any free time off .. other than my standard two days off from work. so it was really well deserved i had taken some time of in December for about five days to go to Boston unexpectedly . However that was not really a vacation (my grandmother died) .. so this was actually a happy occasion . My nephew graduated from high school. Anyway got to the destination thanks to my Garmin because i don't really know the bay area to well. I mean i have been up there several times. But where my nephew lives he is by farm country .. not really in the city of San Francisco.. He's in the east bay so i was actually driving down country roads and such...

the long drive up.

After getting over the grapevine (not sure why they call it this because actually when you finally get over the big mountain there is a exit called grapevine) This is what i have always called this climb over the big mountain and it's the only why i know how to say it and not sure where i first heard this expression? feel free to leave a comment if you have heard it called something else.. Anyway after you pass over the grapevine , i always notice there's a lot less people out in the Bakersfield area.. which is just fine with me growing up in Southern New Hampshire... have no qualms with small town living and all that .. When you live in a metropolis area as large as Los Angeles it's something you gradually get used to the traffic, congestion driving by the movie studios and seeing the help wanted signs for high paying union jobs ! NOT (just seeing if your paying attention). no seriously anyway after about 4- of 5 hours of straight driving stopped in a small town called Santa Nella which is actually a cool stop out on the 5 in the middle of nowhere. However stopped at a place called Pea Anderson's restaurant and had a great dinner of pot roast and of course there famous split pea soup.

OK haven't done a blog for the longest time and think it's due time.. reason i haven't blogged in over two long years ... well just not taking the time to continue it for one reason or another.. work constraints and such have also been contributing factors ( i work a lot of hours and don't really have to much free time is what i am trying to say). Anyway was invited to a graduation in the Bay area (meaning San Francisco area) .. and had a great 4 day weekend. Started out on Friday Morning ventured up the dreaded grapevine , the grapevine is a large mountain you have to go over to get out of the big city of Los Angeles.. As i was driving up the hill saw a brush fire which slowed me down a bit with traffic and also made me a little worrisome .Worried basically they were going to shut down the 5 going North and i was going to sit in the hot sun in my high mileage car and overheat or something...Don't want to be in a hot van in the middle of city of Gorman in mid- June .. that's for sure...