Feb 04 2012
I posted one of my tiger photos on Facebook today and it was noticed and reposted by my friend Matt who is the social media guru for the San Diego Zoo. Within four hours of him reposting the shot it got over 1,000 “Likes,” 50 comments and it was re-shared more than 200 times. I also posted the image on Flickr along with a link on Twitter which was retweeted by my friend Rick who is the Zoo’s Ambassador. Within less than an hour he got me over 30 views. This is what makes the Internet so great.
Feb 03 2012
It’s been quite a while since I posted any photos of Monarch larvae (mainly because of cold weather and a lack of egg-laying butterflies) so here are nine that I found on our milkweed plants today, just enough to field a baseball team. Good thing we have plenty of plants with healthy leaves and flower buds for them to munch on. A few days ago I thought we had only one larva. Obviously I needed to look more carefully.
Feb 02 2012
Took my mom back to SeaWorld for this week’s walkabout. It was wonderfully empty. Came across a new animated conservation mascot I’ve seen before but never really paid attention to or photographed. She’s drawn super Disney-ish cute and is just outside the Turtle Reef exhibit. Not much noticeable change to the Manta installation. We did get our picture taken with Penguin Pete and for the first time with Shamu as well. Not many animal pics on this trip. It was just a quick visit on a beautiful day for getting out and walking.
Feb 01 2012
Had a fun time today hanging with my long-time friend, Sylvia. My visit bizarrely began and ended with viewing an overhead airship. Portent of some kind? We went to the newly opened/remodeled JCPenney at Plaza Bonita to check out what all the hubbub was about. We weren’t disappointed. The store was clean, organized, the staff was very friendly and they had some great deals. We both ended up picking up some clothes, her some tops and me some bottoms. We met in the middle. Then we walked to Macy’s so we could pick up a couple of the Museum Month passes followed by a quick visit to the Disney Store where amazingly nothing was bought by either of us. We decided to have lunch at Johnny Rockets in the food court. I had their tuna melt which I remembered was pretty good from when I had one at their location in Denver. That’s in Colorado. For dessert Sylvia whipped up some fresh cupcakes at her house, half of them topped with chocolate frosting and the other half with spur-of-the-moment home-made vanilla frosting. They turned out awesome. Even brought some home with me to devour, digest and dump…on the floor if I’m not careful. Today was another perfect example why it’s so good to have great friends to hang out with.
Feb 01 2012
The firsts of the months are some my happiest of days. Each time I get twenty-four new calendar photos, paintings, drawings or graphic images of Star Wars characters, Star Trek ships, landscapes, fifties pinup cuties, contemporary pinup beauties, fantasy and comic book pinups (noticing a theme?), hot pirate babes, other pirate characters, Pixar characters, Walt Disney candids, Disney character sketches, Coca Cola paintings, train travel posters, Big Bang Theory cast shots and lots of animals. And all twenty-four are in one room, waiting to be observed, read, admired, learned from, fantasized about or just enjoyed.
Jan 31 2012
After dropping off some business phones in Anaheim for Lannie’s husband, she and I hopped over to Disneyland for a quick visit and lunch. I called our friend Michaelle who works there and asked if she could meet us. First Lannie and I checked out the newly opened Jolly Holiday Bakery at the end of Main Street where we chatted with Oscar Martinez, the amazingly friendly chef who’s been a castmember at Disneyland for fifty-five years. We bought and split a cinnamon twist which was so very good. Then Michaelle joined us across the way at the Plaza Inn for our lunch meet-up. I ordered my old favorite dish, the Chicken Penne Pasta Alfredo. It was just as delicious (and filling) as I remembered. The three of us had a really nice lunch, chatting about life, motherhood (for them, not me, obviously…although I have been called a mother once or twice) and, as we are wont to do, talking about the good old days. After lunch we walked Michaelle back to the entrance of Toontown where we said our goodbyes. Lannie and I then walked back through Disneyland, stopping to take pictures of the Matterhorn which was completely covered for some extensive refurbishing, and then out of the Park to the Downtown Disney parking lot where we parked in the morning. Even though we didn’t have time to ride anything it was a darn good visit. My first of the new year.
Jan 30 2012
Really fun and creative dog’s eye view video of playing with other canines at a public dog park.
Jan 29 2012
Finally got around to watching the finale to “Chuck.” Having never missed an episode and since it was the series finale, I kept putting it off so in my mind it wouldn’t end. Now that I’ve watched it I think it was a good way to end the show. New beginnings. I am gonna miss seeing Yvonne every week, though. Good thing she’s on my Island, otherwise people might think I was weird.
Jan 29 2012
For someone who hates politics, I sure seem to be active with the White House petition signing. Maybe it’s because the Internet is quickly and irreversibly moving our government back towards “We the People.” Funny how governments around the world want to stem that very tide (ACTA/SOPA/PIPA).
Jan 29 2012
My mom and I spent some quality time with our neighbor Jane, who broke her ankle while waking her dog, Bella, on Christmas Day. She collects pig statues. Jane, not her dog. This should count for good karma points, right?
Jan 28 2012
Representing steerage class, I worked my third Viennese Nights: A Grand Ball at the Balboa Park Club, an annual event put on by The San Diego Vintage Dance Society of which my sister Beata and her husband Bill are members. With the almost non-stop preparation of snack trays and drinks, the evening went by very quickly helped along by the live, up-tempo orchestra renditions of waltzes, marches, two-steps and polkas, performed by The Grand Pacific Waltz Orchestra in the adjacent ballroom. Later in the evening, once most of the snacks had been scarfed into oblivion, I was able to sneak away and take a few shots of the dancers. The dancers were a ravenous bunch. Ever year it amazes me how serious some of the attendees take their costuming, which is not a negative since I see the same kind of thing at Comic-Con every year. And I can’t say enough good things about how well both my nephew Stephen and his girlfriend Jeri were to worked with. They were constantly on top of things and a pleasure to work with.
Jan 27 2012
Helping Rodrigo take down the Christmas light tree that we made last December took much less time than it did to create it. The last vestiges of Christmas 2011 are now gone. For our efforts we were handsomely rewarded with an amazing home-made pasta and garlic bread dinner that Sylvia had made.
Jan 27 2012
Got another one of Sylvia’s patented “really good” haircuts. In almost thirty years I don’t think she’s ever given me a bad one, even when she was mad at me that one time in 1992. Great thing about knowing your barber so well is that you can spend the entire time talking behind the backs of all the same friends. (Mary.) So convenient.
Jan 27 2012
Had a really good Zoo excursion with my photo gal-pal, Heather. First, we got super lucky with finding all three Malayan Tigers (momma and two large cubs) all nestled in an alcove by a viewing window. (I’m hoping I got at least one good shot out of the forty that I took of them.) Also got some cute shots of Lily, the Red Panda, a drove of munching Visayan Warty Pigs (one standing inside its feeding bucket), a couple of thrusting, grunt-filled tortoises doing the nasty dance, a performing Trumpeter Hornbill and Red-tailed Cockatiel, a sleeping Rhinoceros and a curious Giraffe, all before sitting down to lunch, which today was surprisingly good stir fry chicken breast with rice and vegetables and was had at the Hua Mei Café which used to be known as the Canyon Café. I truly believe that was the longest sentence I have ever put to digital paper. After lunch I got some shots of a couple of Meerkats, two miniature goats at the Patting Zoo, a Fennec Fox and then finished off my visit with a bunch of poisonous snakes. Very full and pleasant trip all around. Yay for me.
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