Stan’s Obligatory Blog

I had an unexpected free afternoon on Saturday. And it was a very nice day. So I went for a ride. As always, when I’m out riding on a nice winter’s day in L.A., I remember when I used to ride in the winter back in New Jersey. This is just so much more pleasant. And I remember my 6th grade teacher, Mr Wagner.

I did my usual route for when I have a free afternoon. Down to South Pasadena and up the hill to the water tower. Then back to the Rose Bowl for a few times around before going home through Altadena. It was a nice time.

26 miles.
cycling

Tonight Kathleen and I went with my friend Nick to see Varla Jean Merman in her new show, “The Loose Chanteuse” at a little nightclub in Silver Lake. This was her first time back in Los Angeles since we went to see her “Varla Jean Merman Loves a Foreign Tongue” show back in 2008.

One special bit of strange was that her show was sponsored by Fleet, and so, like Oprah, everyone there got a little box of Fleet enemas. And after the show, Varla held court at the top of the stairs, greeting fans and signing all the enema boxes. It was all very surreal, and weird in a very funny way. It was a very fun evening.

This evening, Kathleen, Lucinda and I went to see Cirque Berzerk again. I’d taken Lucinda to see them two summers ago. Apparently, they’ve moved uptown since then. The shows that time were in their tent, set up in the middle of a field outside downtown Los Angeles. This time, they were performing at Club Nokia at L.A. Live.

The show was every bit as much fun as it was before. The story line was basically the same, but the acrobatics were a little different, but still very impressive. Kathleen remarked that it was much more theatrical than she’d expected. As I’d told her, their show sort of defies description. But it’s very, very fun.

It was good fun and a weird evening in all the right ways.

It’s now been three years since my whole divorce ordeal began. I’m finally feeling like the nightmare is over, and it shows.

The top photo is from the first time I took Lucinda to Disneyland in January, 2008. At the time, I was definitely not the proverbial ‘Happy Camper’.

The bottom photo is from our trip to Disneyland yesterday.

Life is good again.

School doesn’t start again until Monday, so I took Lucinda and her friend Maddy to Disneyland today. It was a nice day, and we had a good time. It wasn’t too crowded, although it wasn’t as empty as it was when we were there back in September. Still, we got to ride California Screamin’ eight times. And we even saw the ‘hidden Mickey’ on it.

We spent the whole day there, and we had a nice time. To finish off, we had our now-traditional dinner at the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney.

It was good fun.

Addendum: The rest of the pictures from the day are here.

Since nobody else showed up for the club bike ride last Sunday, we did the same route today. The only change I made was to adjust the route slightly so that we’d have a traffic light to cross 3rd St in Los Angeles.

It was cold and slightly threatening today, but otherwise it was a good day for riding.

We did the route, stopping at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery to pay respects to Dooley Wilson. Then we rode through Koreatown and Hancock Park to our snack stop at Noah’s Bagels in Larchmont Village.

On the way back, we felt a few raindrops, and we briefly considered bailing out and taking the train home, but the weather held, and we made it back without getting wet. And, as if on cue, just as I pulled up to my house, the sky opened up and the rain began. It was perfect timing.

42 miles.
cycling

New Year’s Day is a day when it’s best to stay home. My house is right by the end of the Rose Parade route, so it’s basically impossible to go anywhere. So we took a walk to see a bit of the parade, and also to see the floats close-up when it was over.

The day started with the B-2 flying over, which is amusing in its own peculiar way. After all, under normal circumstances, seeing one of those planes flying by would mean that Something Very Bad was about to happen.

One of my most favorite things about the parade itself is seeing floats being towed over the finish line after breaking down. Dunno why, but that’s always amusing.

There was a float this year dedicated to Ronald Reagan. And I got a chuckle from the portrait of him on the end that totally looked like Leonid Brezhnev.

And the city of Burbank float had little floral F-117s and an SR-71 Blackbird on it. More airplane fun for all the airplane geeks.

For New Year’s Eve, Kathleen and I went downtown for a nice dinner at Takami. This is the Japanese place I found last year that’s on the 21st floor of a building on Wilshire Blvd in downtown Los Angeles. The view is great, and the food is great, too. And that’s a winning combination.

2010 was a very nice year, and we’re looking forward to more fun and frolic in 2011. It was a nice way to close out the year.

It rained hard last night. The roads were still wet, and it was cold this morning. But it looked like it was going to be a good day, so I went riding. The rest of the regular Sunday group didn’t show, but I went anyway. The route was a new variation to get to Angelus Cemetery outside downtown L.A. to visit the grave of Dooley Wilson. We did this ride a couple of summers ago, so it was time again.

Just a bit outside downtown, I got a flat. I tried to locate the hole in the tube, but it was too noisy on that corner. But I felt around the inside of the tire and didn’t find anything. So I put in the spare tube and headed off. I got about half a mile and then I got another flat. This time I was sitting by the railroad tracks next to the L.A. River. It was a lot quieter and I was able to patch both tubes. Again I felt around the inside of the tire and came up empty. I started riding again, and I got as far as Union Station before I got yet another flat. This time I paid close attention to where the hole was, and I made a thorough inspection of the tire right there. Then I found a little sliver of glass. So once again I patched the tube and headed off. By now I had only one patch left, so I figured if it happened again, I’d just take the train home.

In downtown, I rode down Broadway and looked at some of the old theaters there. Then out on West Adams to Angelus. I stopped to pay respects to Mr. Wilson and to remember him singing “As Time Goes By”. Then I headed out, up into Koreatown and then over to Larchmont. Along the way I saw a store selling water and Internet access. Yeah, I guess those go together. I also saw that Snow White’s house on Larchmont Blvd is for sale.

I skipped the stop, since it was just me,and the three flat tires had thrown me off schedule. I tried a new route back, going east on some little streets to get over to Silver Lake and then up Benton Way. It was a lot quieter than the way we usually go.

When I got back to Pasadena, I saw the final preparations for the Rose Parade, which means it really is the end of the year. But with this ride, I made my goal of 4,000 miles for the year. So it was a nice ride.

42 miles.
cycling

Well, the rain finally stopped, and I got to go for a bike ride. I met up with some of the people from the regular Sunday group, and we headed out to the San Fernando Valley to see the Great Wall of Los Angeles. This is a mural painted on the side of a flood control channel that covers the entire span of Los Angeles history. It starts at the south end with giant slots and mammoths, and goes all the way to the present.

We headed out and rode straight west across Eagle Rock and Glendale into Burbank. Then we took Oxnard St out into the Valley. Along the way, we saw an impressive driveway gate. Nice and shiny. Then we got to the Wall. It’s pretty impressive.

Coming back, we took the bikeway along the Metro Orange Line. We stopped at Panera in North Hollywood for a snack. Then we headed home. We went across Glendale and then up to La Cañada. When we got back to Pasadena, we took Howard St across so we could pass by the house where Sirhan Sirhan grew up.

It was a nice ride.

48 miles.
cycling