3.23.2011

being the afternoon

i know it's important to be quick when writing news for the web, but taking a few seconds to read the headline you wrote might be a little more important. check this screen shot from the la times. but, by the time i took the screen shot and wrote this post, they had fixed the error, so kudos for the quick cover-up. ps, ladies, feel free to drool over paul.

3.18.2011

pecan log

complete absurdity courtesy of newt the nut.

oh, oh, this just in. obama spent two minutes brushing his teeth and 40 seconds knotting his tie this morning. how dare he waste his time on such trivialities when he could be doing something else the republicans will complain about like whiny 3-year-olds anyway?

3.16.2011

three for one

on a run by holmby park today, i actually heard a woman say to her friend as they sat on a blanket on the grass, "i was worried at first, but i got a good baby," referring to the wriggling infant at her knee as if she had picked it out of a bin at walmart.

3.14.2011

summit

spent much of the weekend in santa barbara. drove up saturday morning and stopped off at seacliff for a bodyboarding session in fun but inconsistent waves. my brother drove down and met up with me there, but the swell had already started to drop off when he arrived and my hands had numbed to the point that i could barely turn the key to open the trunk of my car. water definitely seemed colder than i remembered. ice cream headache on the paddle out.

on sunday, we headed down to the pit to check the waves, but didn't even bother unloading our gear after a quick glance at the two-foot slop. after very nearly settling in for an afternoon of junky television, we decided to take a short hike. setting off up tunnel trail around 12:30 or so, we pressed on past rattlesnake connector and ended up trudging to the top of la cumbre peak, the tallest point in the front country range at just under 4,000 feet. after a quick break to enjoy the view, we scrambled back down the six-odd miles to my car. i forgot how punishing the descent is, with each jolting step on rust-yellow rock sending currents of pain into the calves and knees. definitely hurting today. looks like there might be a bit of swell in the water tomorrow and wednesday; thinking about heading straight to zuma after work now that we have an extra hour of daylight in the evening. might not be worth it if it takes more than an hour to get there, but we'll see.

3.08.2011

l.a. day

hiked most of mount wilson trail this past weekend. my legs are a little unhappy, but the hike was great. reminded me a lot of the trails above santa barbara. the first section is pretty much exposed cutbacks in scrub with a few oaks here and there. offers a few views of the san gabriel valley and beyond, if the air is clear enough. staring back at the valley floor below, i noticed the 10 highway winding eastward and a parking lot filled with cars, the sunlight shivering on their windshields. i could almost picture the vista without humanity's touch, a giant basin sloping gently down to the sea. i hit the next section in the early afternoon, which was great. the trail ducks along an east-facing slope, giving me a break from the sun. after another two miles or so, i hit orchard camp, a nice little glen alongside the creek. but i was thinking about making it to the top and didn't want to slow down. another few miles into the hike and i decided to turn back. i estimate i was only a short distance from manzanita ridge, but i had to be back by a certain time so people wouldn't be worried. i ran most of the way back down and ended up with plenty of time to spare.

on the drive back to westwood, i tried to imagine seeing los angeles and its labyrinth of highways for the first time. it seemed so overwhelmingly depressing at first, the neverending concrete construction barriers, the constant traffic, the drab buildings jutting above the sound wall. but small instances of beauty filtered through: on a rise in the highway, the red and white lights of traffic spread out ahead like a jeweled carpet; the tram near the getty center glowed like a fluorescent inchworm as it wound its way along the hillside; the towering buildings along the wilshire corridor glimmered with a patchwork of lit and unlit windows. despite the bad air, the angry drivers, the immense sprawl of the place, i had to admit some small affinity for los angeles in those moments.