October 2003 Archives

Here's all the places I can remember living.

• 5xxx N. Muscatel Avenue, San Gabriel 91775-2621
• 1206 S. Charlotte Avenue, San Gabriel 91775-3123
• 908 S. Second Street, Alhambra 91801-4318
• 418 E. Broadway Unit C, San Gabriel 91775-1829
• 633 W. Fairview, Arcadia 91007-6742
• 164 St. Albans, So. Pasadena 91030-3581*
• 6318 N. Muscatel Avenue, San Gabriel 91775-1844
• 1401 Oneonta Knoll, So. Pasadena 91030-4611*
• 3401 W. Second Street, Los Angeles 90004-5909
• 5441 N. Dubonnet Avenue, San Gabriel 91776-2135

* South Pasadena does not use directionals as part of their addresses.

The Santa Ana winds are playing havoc with the fires. It could be days before there's a break in the weather.

My sister sent me an e-mail a couple of days ago, asking if I wanted to do some light exercise with her. We arranged to walk on Monday nights, starting between 7:30 and 8:00pm.

We walked around her neighborhood, and talked about work and things. I switched out of my work shoes into tennies, but should have changed my socks too; otherwise, it was fun.

We're planning on doing it again next Monday.

Carole signed me and boys up to help her friend Terry move. This is maybe the fourth move we've done for Terry in the last 18 months. We're normally willing to help out, but at some point you get that creeping feeling that some line has been crossed.

The move went smoothly. My nephew William had come home with us after the wedding, making the devil's compromise that the fun he'd have playing computer games with Justin would make up for the hassle of helping us move. Afterward, I bet he regretted it.

It took three loads in the truck - one to empty out a small storage area she was renting, one to get 90% of the big things from her apartment, and a final run to get a couple of things that wouldn't fit in the second load. She fed us all the tacos we wanted, which was cool.

I think Terry felt funny about us moving her again, but she really doesn't have any other options short of paying a moving company, and who has that kind of money?

I told the kids it was good practice...

Carole's brother Rob got married today. Yvette is great - just what the doctor ordered, and her kids are special.

Justin picked up a few bucks from the tip jar, tending bar at the reception following the ceremony. This consisted of pouring some wine, opening a couple bottles of beer, and icing down the sodas.

I eagerly agreed to do a little something, announcing the wedding party as they returned after the ceremony. I flubbed it announcing Don and Jill - I couldn't see Jill behind the potted plant, and I didn't want to say the wrong name, so I paused a little too long to make sure I got it right. Sorry Don. Sorry Jill. (Carole told me later I might have messed up the pronunciation of Micheal's and Trevor's last name, but I swear I said it the way Ann told me. More apologies are probably in order).

Hope things work for Rob and Yvette.

My brother-in-law and friend Rob McConnell got married on October 25th, 2003, to a wonderful woman named Yvette.

I was more than ready for a motorcycle ride, but the upcoming weekend will be busy. Carole's brother Rob is getting married on Sunday (poor fool), and Carole signed me and the kids up to move Terry one more time, from her second floor walk-up apartment at Ocean View and Foothill in La Crescenta to a first floor place on Pennsylvania Avenue just north of the 210. I'm really not sure why I do these things.

Anyway, I had plenty of vacation hours to burn, so I planned to leave work around 1:00 or 1:30 on Friday afternoon. The original plan was to take Angeles Crest all the way to Wrightwood, then head home on the I-15 and I-210, but the wildfires in Lytle Creek quashed that plan. Instead, I headed up Angeles Crest, then cut back on Upper Big Tujunga Canyon (about 4 miles past Red Box) to Angeles Forest, then on into Palmdale. I grabbed a burger at Tom's, and took Bouquet Canyon down into Santa Clarita. I felt good on the bike - fast and confident - but decided the late afternoon shadows would not be fun on Little Tujunga Canyon, so I hit the 14 and took the freeways home.

I'm in the process of redesigning the site. The old layout was bland and boring. The new site is (hopefully) bright and bold.

The main page has been converted, and I'm working through the other MT templates. I plan to be done over the weekend, but it's a busy one, so things may need to wait.

The dry summer and some semi-Santa Ana winds have resulted in a few brush fires around the area over the last few days. A big one started/restarted in Lytle Creek, inside the elbow of I-15 as it curves west south of the I-215 split.

It's left a weird, hazy but bright sunshine over the area. The sunset tonight should be picturesque.

John King
Thursday, October 23, 2003

Consider this week's hoopla over Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles a taste of things to come, San Francisco: The nation's architectural spotlight will swing in our direction come late 2006.

Original article

Posted on Wed, Oct. 22, 2003

What do Robert Novak, Bill Janklow and Rush Limbaugh have in common? They are well known men who have been in the news lately and have reacted to their situations in similar ways.

A great, subtle movie.

I liked Bill Murray in the otherwise forgettable Wild Things, and his work here is somewhat similar in style to Rushmore. I always thought he was good in Mad Dog and Glory. In LIT, his understated expressiveness works well with the overall personality of the movie.

During LIT, I assumed Scarlett Johansson was mid- to late-twenties, but IMDB says she's not quite 19. A mature performance here, with a lot of nuance.

How's that for a pretentious-sounding movie review?

GALENA: Small reactor promises much, but it's never been built.

By JOEL GAY
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: October 21, 2003)

A Japanese corporation wants to thrust the Interior community of Galena into international limelight by donating a new, unconventional electricity-generating plant that would light and heat the Yukon River village pollution-free for 30 years.

There's a catch, of course. It's a nuclear reactor.

Not a huge, Three Mile Island-type power plant but a new generation of small nuclear reactor about the size of a big spruce tree. Designers say the technology is safe, simple and cheap enough to replace diesel-fired generators as the primary energy source for villages across rural Alaska.

I picked up Carole at LGB, back from her trip to New York and New England with her mom, dad, aunt, and uncle. She's understandably tired, happy to be out of Manhattan traffic, and glad to be back in So. Cal. We stopped at In-N-Out on the way home.

I lost my music.

I wasn't really using it, but the fact that it's gone (at least temporarily) comes to my attention from time to time. Jason is using my MP3 player; he's doing data entry at work, and is allowed to wear headphones, so he's been listening to music and a long series of audio lectures on existensialism during the day.

When Carole left for her trip to New England with her mom, dad, aunt, and uncle (she's due back late Saturday afternoon), I loaned her my portable CD/MP3 player, in case the rental van didn't have a built-in CD player.

When I woke up this morning, I was thinking it would be a good day to walk the hills at lunch time. Then I remembered - no music. I may still walk, but half the fun is listening to music along the way.

Final BC 0, Chelsea 0 - a moral victory for the Midland Blues.

Le Monde de Kate du Fromage: Primer for Tender Young Minds

• No plans were made for a specific time; she's travelling with others, and doesn't control the schedule.
• She asked to use the restroom.
• She had called an left a message (including her cell number) on the family answering machine the night before, so everyone would be aware of the proposed visit..
• Christopher offered a tour of the house and the rest of the property, which Carole says is quite nice.

An e-mail exchange with my brother Daren:

Daren:

Carole is helping her mom, dad, aunt, and uncle with driving and
logistics on a three-week trip through New York and New England.
I had heard from Carole that she wanted to visit with Chris and
Matt while passing through, but know no other details. Your best
bet would be to contact her directly at carole@carolecasey.com.

At 03:22 PM 10/10/2003 -0400, Daren J Casey wrote:

Brian:

How would this sound to you:

"Annette is in town and asks to see Jeremy and Justin (when you and Carole
aren't around), makes arrangements to meet for lunch, arrives 4 hours late,
lies in order to get inside the house, proceeds to take pictures of each
room in the house, then leaves."

Sound bizarre? That is what Christopher was treated to yesterday by
Carole. I'm at a loss to explain Carole's behavior but want to ensure
nothing remotely like it ever happens again. Not sure what end this visit
served for Carole, but she took advantage of our willingness to let her
visit her nephews independent of our own feelings

Daren

It is never okay to send an e-mail to a co-worker, and bcc that same e-mail to anyone in your common management chain.

Never.

I left on Friday afternoon for Fresno, with Justin and my nephew Sheehan. My niece Gabriella was singing the National Anthem to open the festivities at the Fresno County Fair, and we went up to show our support.

(Carole is still back east with her mom, dad, aunt, and uncle. Sister Carol (Sheehan's mom, and not a nun) was in Albuquerque at a business conference.)

We're in Carol's SUV - Jason's brakes went out, so he took my car to visit his girlfriend just north of Fresno, and boys and I took Carol's car.

My 17-year-old niece Gabriella is singing the National Anthem to open the Fresno County Fair tomorrow, so I'm taking Justin and my nephew Sheehan for an overnighter.

Jason went to visit his girlfriend Jenny in Ceres yesterday, and will meet us either for breakfast or at the fair on Saturday morning. The brakes on his car started making funny-bad noises while he was driving home from school yesterday, so he took my car, and I arranged with my sister Carol (Sheehan's mom) to use her car.

Sheehan's doing the learner's permit thing, so I'm planning on letting him do as much of the driving as he wants. If we get there early enough and the boys want to, we may see a movie tonight, or find something else fun to do.

Carole's in Vermont with her mom, dad, aunt, and uncle. Jeremy has to work, so he's home alone (although it's likely that Sarah will come to visit).

I got my company-paid-for flu shot today at 1:00pm. The injection itself was almost painless, but now I've got a weird, unpleasant sensation flowing down my left arm. If this is the end of the side-effects, I'll be happy.

I took Carole to Long Beach airport yesterday afternoon to catch a Jet Blue to JFK. She's meeting her mother, father, aunt Carol and uncle Marvin, and then shepherding them around New York and New England for the next 17 days.

As always, she was running late, but we made it early enough. Long Beach has huge runways, but a tiny little terminal.