Living in Long Beach

It is crazy busy tonight at LAX but I am happily tapping this post on my cell while I am waiting to board.

I thought it was so cold in LA right before I left to go North. I mean, I did have to turn on my heat and put on socks. (I think it got down to 61 degrees.) Well, that was nothing compared to 17 degrees in Columbus.

In case you haven't yet heard, I will be starting a new adventure at Century Shower Door in a few weeks and saying goodbye to my job at the orange giant.

Langston is growing up.

I meant to post this a few weeks ago. It is mainly for Jessica! Click on the napkin to see what is one of the best things in Las Vegas...

Click the picture to see several other pictures in a quick slideshow from our Thanksgiving together in Vinings, GA 2001. There's even a picture of Jessica showing Jack how to uncork it. Unfortunately, I didn't capture on film the famous mold disaster in the parking lot!

The beautiful tree along with the piped-in Christmas music convinced me to do some Christmas shopping (for others!) this warm evening at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Joy to the World.

I see this car all the time and had to take a picture for Susan...

One of my Doctors just moved his practice to a new location. I had to take a picture of it because it even though these are all offices, they look like they were once part of an old motel. Very cute (and only a mile from me.)

Friday night I went to La Habra High School's Homecoming Game. It was the La Habra Highlanders against Buena Park's Coyotes. Even though Buena Park is only minutes away from La Habra, there were less than 20 people in their stands. It was so sad. Later in the game it was obvious why no one was there. They got creamed. I'm not sure if they ever scored as we left before it was over. (I found out later that they haven't won a game all season.) I had a great time. Homecoming games haven't changed at all really, except that 4 out of 5 teenagers there were on a cell phone. In my day, only one of my "friends" even owned a pager and it was huge. Ah, high school takes me back. Some things never change.

My friend Sherri's niece was selected as one of the two Sophmore princesses on her Homecoming Court at La Habra High School. Here is a picture taken of her before the game. She was absolutely beautiful. Congratulations Cyla!

Caj is resting quietly next to me as I work on the computer. You can see the orange bandage where his IV is. Thank you for all your support and thoughts.

So, I went to Disney Land finally. I wasn't feeling well and only stayed until around 3 or 4 (though I did get there right when it opens at 10am.) It was a great day to go. It was chilly and a little drizzly. Really, I am not being sarcastic as it would seem. It was pretty crowded and I have to assume that it was a light day because you know that people from Southern CA are basically afraid of the rain. So, I erroneously thought that I wasn't paying for entrance so I only had $40 with me to pay for incidentals, like gifts (sorry, that didn't happen). So imagine my surprise when I had to pay for either a $66 or $91 ticket for one day!! My friend wanted me to get the $91 pass which I guess also gets you into Adventure Land or some such thing. He has a season's pass so it was all free to him (though to be fair, I should note that he did pay for parking and bought me a slice of pizza.) Thank god that I brought a credit card (I think). Anyway, as I mentioned, I wasn't f...

I went to dinner with a friend of mine to downtown Brea. It is an area that is like a small old town Pasadena but instead it's on one main street, Birch Street. (Hence the name, the Birch Street Promenade!) We happened to go on Tuesday evening and that is the day that they hold the Farmer's Market. I meant to take some awesome pictures for everyone but we were starving. By the time we finished eating (and yes, yapping) it was already dark. Even though this picture is horrible with bad lighting, etc. I think you can still see how beautiful it is. (Really, how can it not be gorgeous with all the palm trees flanking the road?)

I've been a little under the weather the last few days. Nothing to worry about, I am already feeling much better. Anyway, I am several post behind and some of them seem way too carefree and glib considering the state of Southern CA right now. Of course, I live in Long Beach by the beach so I am pretty much protected from the fires getting to me. But outside you would think the fires are only a mile or two away. The sky is always smoky as is the air. There are ashes everywhere. The postgirl (I guess that's what you call female postmen, maybe I should say the "postal worker"?) is wearing a dust mask as is anyone else who is outside for any length of time. On the news, Southern Californians are warned to stay inside. And I am NOT complaining. We are the lucky ones as we are safe and do not have to evacuate or worry about losing our homes. So, I am going to post some of these older posts, just remember they were supposed to be posted pre-fires.

One of my very close friends, Susan Todd (who is in the blue man pictures with me) is going to be walking 60 miles for breast cancer next year. She has a goal of raising $2200 for breast cancer, more specifically to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. I know you get asked to give money for many charities but it would mean a lot to me if you at least visited her site. And if you could support her goal as well, that would be awesome. I'll be sure to post some pictures of the event. Click here for her page:

I just got a Roomba and I love it! I took this video of it in use for the first time... Here is a quick picture of Caj walking by Roomba without really caring that it is swirling around. I have decided to purchase Roomba's sister, Scooba, who will start work this weekend. I will let you know how she does! UPDATE: Sadly, Sccoba did not adapt well to our household and had to be returned. Although she really tried to clean her best, she "slobbered" way too much and left my floor soaking wet.

Besides my DVD that I couldn't get out? If any of you reading this are really mechanical, then excuse the naiveté of this post. I took apart my DVD player today and was amazed at the insides. It really is like a mini-computer. The wonderment of it all! Fun times, eh?

...and it was a bust, literally. I was in my car with a co-worker, driving from Cypress in Orange County to Lancaster in northern LA County. At around 7:20 am, my car got a flat tire. We were in the car pool lane in rush hour traffic on the 605/91/105 interchange. By the time we got all the way over to the emergency lane - which was on a bridge - my tire was merely a rim. We started to call my road service but LA County has a free road service that stopped to help us (there's a link to their website on the picture at the end of this post.) We had to drive forward on our rim (gasp!) as we couldn't get out of the car without risking death! Turns out my brand new Volvo bought from the dealership did not come equipped with the key to unlock the nut from the tire. The Volvo dealership located less than half a mile off the freeway (the very exit we were next to) would not bring the key to me. (Don't even get me started about the all the phone calls I made to get a "no"...

The Las Vegas Airport that is. I often fly from LGB (Long Beach) to LAS (Las Vegas) for work. Both airports have free internet access! (I think Columbus, OH does too so I know you guys aren't that impressed.) Very few airports have free access so we are the lucky ones. I am sitting in the Las Vegas airport right now posting this! (Better than gambling at the slot machines, I think.)

A shout out to my FAVORITE sister, who is one year older today! Wish I could be there with you. Love ~ C

I added a little weather box to the left side of the page so you can see the current weather that I am enjoying...if it ends up taking your page longer to load, please let me know and I'll remove it. If it just plain makes you jealous, well, I can't change that!

No, this isn't about the Beastie Boys song from the mid 90's...it's about me! I went with a friend of mine to the fabric store today to help her pick out material to make a monkey Halloween costume for her grandson. (She has promised me pics so I'll post.) I got inspired and thought I'd make a cute little pouch to keep my USB sticks in. I got home, pulled out my trusty Hello Kitty sewing machine and whipped these right up (after I painstakingly re-learned how to thread the bobbin, the needle, etc but I digress.) These turned out okay but I definitely need a lot more practice. Next, I am going to try to make a pouch lined in a different fabric...fancy, huh?

My group at work donated time, money and services to a family who's 7 year old son just had a heart transplant. We gave them new wood flooring, a new kitchen, new paint inside and out, windows, sliding doors, etc. I snapped a few pictures with my cell phone. Here is a picnic table that I helped sand and stain. I also stained the fence that you see in the background. In case you are wondering where Phillips Ranch, CA is, it is very close to Pomona. Does that help?

Now that Mother has become such an awesome cell phone photographer, I am going to teach her how to have her own blog so she can send her cell phone pics there. Give me time though... Here are the pictures she sent me today... (Okay, maybe I should let her practice the pictures some more.)

Last week, some of us from work went to CPK (California Pizza Kitchen for those of you not in the know) after a meeting. This is one of their ASAP chains. It is right by the stadium for the Angels in Anaheim ( the LA Angels - don't even get me started about how stupid it is for them to now be called that! Everyone knows that Anaheim is in the OC...) One of my friends is always making fun of my because everywhere we go, I always think it is so pretty. She totally made fun of me when I thought the weeds in Glendale (the part close to the hood in Cypress Park) were pretty. So to tie this all up, once we left CPK (see how cool you are now that you know what that means??), the day was gorgeous and I couldn't help taking a quick pic of the parking lot. Come on. It is pretty, isn't it?

I tried to get some pics of this as it was really cool to be on the beach with a fire going. As usual, they didn't turn out so well and you can't see much. Besides paying a modest amount for parking ($10), you can have your fire pit going for free on the beach. But the beach closes at 10pm (which seems to me to be pretty early on the weekend but whatever). The beach patrol comes around and scoots everyone out - reminded me of last call at a bar. The kids there had never roasted marshmallows and did not know the subtle art of slowly heating through the center. They just stuck them in the fire to burn, blew them out and then ate them. They were burning their lips on the top layer and yet when they got to the center, it was stone cold. As there are no sticks or tree limbs on the beach to whittle, like when you are camping, everyone used metal hangers from people's dry cleaning. Too funny. Again, most of the kids (from Newport Beach so no surprises here) had not seen metal han...

A quick apology to anyone who actually reads this with some regularity. I am behind in my posts and will really try to post at least once or twice a week going forward. I am also opening my comments to unregistered users. We'll see how that goes...

I am so proud of my mother. She just sent me her first message from her cell phone to my cell phone and she included this picture. Go Mother go! Mitzu

Tonight, Father and I went to the beach to see Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space . It was soooo funny. I would highly recommend it (and seeing it on the beach is a bonus!) I've added the link to imdb if you want to read about it but again, I would highly recommend watching it first. I would definitely watch it again. Afterward, we ended the even ing by eating at In-n-Out Burger (sorry Tinu!)

Sunday evening Father and I went to Inglewood (crazy, huh?) and saw the Cirque Du Soleil - Corteo. Corteo means cortege in Italian, which means a joyous procession. In this instance, the procession was actually celebrating the death of a clown while he watched from above with angels. Father's favorite act was a naked girl on a trapeze. Just checking if you were paying attention, it was not that kind of show. Father's real favorite act was "the acrobats". Now, I know what you are thinking...wow, he is so specific. Once I pressed him, he said he especially liked the high bar routines with 8 - 12 men swinging at the same time. (Note from Celine: it was so frightening that I could barely keep my eyes open. I kept waiting for them to hit each other as their bodies would swing into each other and miss by a few inches. It was amazing.) My favorite was either the see-saw or the ladies hanging from chandeliers. They would hang by one foot and then go up that way over 100 ft in...

And it went into overtime. Truly fascinating. Plus, at every time out, we got to watch the dancin' dolls who had marvelously intricate moves! Besides watching the basketball game in Venice Beach, Father and I also went to the Sidewalk cafe and each had our own Farmer's Almanac with fries (sorry Mother). What is a Farmer's Almanac, you ask? Only the best tuna fish sandwich in Venice Beach. We saw several performances (a strange knife juggler/comedian on a ladder, a bronze man and his bronze dog, and synchronized roller skating) and walked by interesting landmarks...see all the pictures here . (Again, taken with my camera phone so I apologize for the quality. I also resized these so they would be smaller so if you want any of the originals to print, email me please.)

Okay, not really. In Venice Beach today, there was this huge gospel gathering. I took a 7 second video and warn you to listen at your own risk. I felt like I was taping for 2 or 3 minutes because it was so bad interesting. When I got home and found out it was only 7 seconds, I was shocked. People were singing, waving their hands and arms in the air (while swaying back and forth) and of course, there were lots of screaming of "amen" and "hallelujah". They were sponsored by some Venice church and also Addicts For Christ . So I guess that is good, right?

was fantastic. It far exceeded our expectations. We also drove by Father's old stomping grounds, where he used to live off of Hollywood Blvd at Carlton Way. We couldn't find his old apartment so we assume that it was taken down (though there were some old buildings still there.) We did see the Hollywood sign on the hills. I remember the first time I saw it, that it took my breath away. This time I just barely noticed it. As for the Pantages, Father said he used to watch movies there. It is beautiful and ornate inside. I tried to take a picture but no cameras were allowed and before I could click, I was admonished by an usher. I did take a picture inside the ladies' restrooms though. If you ever get an opportunity to see Wicked, you MUST go see it. It is so clever. I wouldn't be surprised if they make a movie of it soon. Carol Kane was in it and also John Rubinstein. Plus there was a guy in it who used to be in Buffy, so that thrilled me!

Stay tuned...tonight we are going to see Wicked at the Pantages theater in Hollywood. Full recap coming tomorrow...In the meantime, if you want to know more about it, clicking the witch will get you to the Wicked LA website.

I am officially on vacation!! I will be picking Father up from John Wayne Airport in Orange County in a few hours and then the fun begins. Stay tuned for lots of posts this week as we go to shows and sites - Wicked at the Pantages, Cirque du Soleil, Venice Beach, etc, etc...

I have a slight eye infection and have been amusing everyone at work by emailing them pictures of myself. Don't be alarmed, I've been to the doc and am taking antibiotics and should be as good as new before long. ~JM