Get Over It (But Maybe I Wouldn't Either)

I was writing to Coachblogger about my high school and it made me recall this story. About 5 or 6 years after high school, I was working at a local pizza parlor. The manager was a year older than I and had attended the high school that was our rival. One day he was telling me that he'd played basketball. I remembered some of the amazing games that our two high schools played. So I said, "Do you remember that game for the league championship, when Bob Somerby hit that foul shot with no time remaining to win the championship for us?" Without even waiting for one split second, and 5 or 6 years after the fact, he exclaimed, "That wasn't a foul!!!"

The Interview

Brett over at Coachblogger25.blogspot.com was "interviewed" on his blog by another blogger, and he offered to interview anyone who asked per the guidelines listed below. Here are his questions to me, and my responses.

1) You don't reveal much on your profile, why so guarded in what you tell others about yourself?

Well, the internet is a very public place. Most people don't realize how much can be found out about them with a few searches. There are reasons I don't want anyone to just be able to find out a lot of details about me. Enough said...

2) I noticed that you have some great pictures on your blog, do you take your own shots that you post?

Thank you for the compliment. Yes, I take my own photos, but I don't consider myself a photographer, as compared to some of the more "focused" photographers with blogs. I guess I do have a natural eye that gets me by to some extent. Maybe I'll develop my skills more as I go along. I have a pretty basic Kodak digital camera that I got about five years ago. Kills me that my old Nikon is obsolete, but at least I don't need to buy film and get it developed! In my house, I have a great photo that I took with a Kodak Brownie in 1959 at Seals Stadium in San Francisco. It's a black and white of Orlando Cepeda in the on-deck circle with Willie Mays at the plate in the background. The Giants were playing the NL Champion Braves that day, and we were in the third row! I discovered blogs quite by accident when I was looking for something about South Pasadena, the town I live in, and stumbled on Laurie Allee's blog, Glimpses of South Pasadena. She's really a good photographer. That got me reading several other blogs, and I found your blog when you commented on hers!

3) Living in Pasadena, do you get caught up in the Rose Parade and if so, how many have you attended?

Yes I do. I love to go see the South Pasadena float as it's being built. One year I did an email photo essay of the South Pas float from chassis to teardown. Even included a photo of the float on TV. I think I've been to about 5 or 6 parades in 27 years here. One year I bought tickets for me and my parents. A couple years I got primo tickets right in front of the Elks Club from a friend who worked at Arco. A couple years, I just showed up in the morning with a chair. This year, at 6:40 am I looked at the clock and turned to my girlfriend, who'd never seen a Rose Parade before, saying, "We've got time to make it up there if you want to get dressed and go." She said "Yes!" and that was that. We got a good spot and had a great time. Even more fun than the parade for me is seeing the floats as they're being built over at the Rose Palace, Rosemont Pavilion, and some of the other locations. (Just like I think batting practice and fielding practice before a baseball game is more interesting than the game itself.) This year, we got to see a bunch of floats heading west on Huntington Drive at around 8 pm on New Year's Eve as we headed over to Sierra Madre for dinner. My girlfriend thought that was one of the highlights.

4) What do you enjoy most about having your own blog?

I registered my blog just so I could post comments to other blogs. That's almost more fun to me than posting on my own blog. But I also like being able to share photos with other people, and tell a few of my stories like the Christmas Breakfast at Ruby's Diner and an upcoming one about how I fought city hall and won. I got some urging to get going with a blog from some of the other local bloggers. It's good to have a place to post things you want to share with others.

5) What do you like about reading other blogs?

I love humor most of all. Altadena Hiker is really funny, as is Mademoiselle Gramophone, and your story about Alani's cussing is just hysterical. I also like many of the serious things I read and learn from the blogs. Today I read a great article by Margaret Finnegan about her abusive father. There's a lot to learn about, although I did kind of get started sharing a lot of information on Laurie's blog that I had picked up about South Pasadena. Several of the Pasadena-area bloggers have met for lunch the last couple months, and it's fun to get to know some of the other bloggers in person. Lots of really bright, accomplished people. And I think Coachblogger25 is amazing. One post makes me laugh and the next makes me cry.

Now it's your turn if you would like me to interview you just leave a comment and I will email you the questions! Here's the directions:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions

Begin Obama

This photo appeared at SFGate.com (the SF Chronicle's website) today, and I just had to share it. "Normally this street sign would say "END BUSH," but the signs on Bush Street have been changed to "OBAMA" on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, in San Francisco. (Kurt Rogers / The Chronicle)"

Doo-Dah Craftman Smackdown?

Did you say you wanted to see another craftsman?

One of my favorite local craftsmans

This is at Stratford and Oxley in South Pasadena. It's low and long, and it shows how the dark colors and the large eaves make them very difficult to photograph.

One for Laurie's Smackdown

Due to the thousands of cards and letters saying the Gamble House was just too easy, I hereby enter this little one, which is in the "Small and Bushy" category.

The Gamble House on Orange Grove

Here's a photo of the Gamble House that I took on the way to the 2005 Rose Bowl game.

This photo is not entered in the Smackdown (unless there's a separate "Big and Non-Bushy" category.)

The Lake Shrine

At the end of Sunset Boulevard near Pacific Coast Highway is one of the best kept secrets in Los Angeles: The Lake Shrine. http://www.seeing-stars.com/Churches/LakeShrine.shtml The shrine belongs to the Self-Realization Fellowship http://www.yogananda-srf.org/. It's a great place to visit. Here are some photos from my visit on January 3, 2009.

January 1, 2009

The South Pasadena float wraps up the 2009 Rose Parade as it approaches Sierra Madre Boulevard.