Malfunctioning Halloween Costumes

Picture of the Day for 10/31/2011. The Halloween costumes seem to be malfunctioning today. My great-nephew Dane's moustache kept falling off and my witch's hat wouldn't stand up straight. It's hard to instill terror with a limp hat.

It's Official

Picture of the Day for 10/30/2011. I made a quick trip to the cemetery to see if my dad's death date had been inscribed on my parents' headstone. It has. I guess it's official- he be dead. Dratted man. I miss him every day.

Highland Fling Dance Competition

Picture of the Day for 10/29/2011. My friend Suzanne and I attended the Scottish festival held annually by the First Presbyterian Church Salt Lake City. (Hey- you can't go wrong with men in kilts.) We spent about 1/2 hour watching the Highland Fling dance competition. It was very cute. I found the less adept dancers to be the most endearing.

The following is for my friend Suzanne- I ended up winning one of the gift baskets in the raffle! It's filled with Halloween decorations.

Alcatraz Cookbook

Picture of the Day for 10/28/2011. Readers of my blog are aware that I like to pick up regional cookbooks as souvenirs when I travel. Who would have guessed I could have found one in the Alcatraz prison gift shop?

I was Distracted by Project Runway

Picture of the Day for 10/27/2011. Confession- I did not actually take this picture on the date indicated. That's because I got home late last night and was so eager to see the season finale of Project Runway that I totally forgot to snap a photograph for the day.

Speaking of Project Runway, you may scoff and think it's just another reality show, but it's a fascinating look at how clothes are designed and constructed.

Scary Halloween Eyeballs

Picture of the Day for 10/26/2011. Out of all the Halloween decorations I've seen this year, these scary eyeballs are my favorite.

The Culprit

Picture of the Day for 10/25/2011. I know this is waaaay after the fact, but I thought I would document the rake that went through my foot after I accidentally stumbled upon it on my dark porch last month.

Always Something Interesting to See

Picture of the Day for 10/24/2011. There's always something interesting to see in San Francisco- people*, architecture, landscape, stores, etc. Even the fence (pictured above) outside the bed and breakfast where we stayed was interesting.

*My sister Paula spent a couple of weeks in San Francisco about a month ago helping my niece Michelle right after she broke her ankle. Paula mentioned how she was taking a Sunday stroll in the Castro district when two naked men casually walked by her. That would definitely fall under the category of "interesting." Sadly, we did not encounter anything half as "interesting" this past weekend.

Japanese Tea Garden at the Golden Gate Park

Picture of the Day for 10/23/2011. We visited the Japanese Tea Garden at the Golden Gate Park. It was lovely. I'll let the following pictures speak for themselves.

Old Lady Scooter

Picture of the Day for 10/22/2011. My niece Michelle shattered her ankle over the Labor Day weekend several weeks ago. Her leg is in a cast and she's under strict orders not to put any weight on it. Consequently, she's resorted to using an "old lady" scooter to get around town. Renee and I never got tired of seeing Michelle zip around in her scooter during our weekend in San Francisco. It was pretty cute.

San Francisco Tourists

Picture of the Day for 10/21/2011. My niece Renee and I are in San Francisco spending the weekend visiting Renee's sister (and my niece) Michelle. Today was devoted to tourist-y activities. We started off with a tour of the downtown/wharf area in an open-air car.

Of course the tour made a stop at the Golden Gate Bridge. Check out the building at the base of the bridge. I never realized there was a fort there. To quote the National Park Service website, "Fort Point was built between 1853 and 1861 by the U.S. Army Engineers as part of a defense system of forts planned for the protection of San Francisco Bay."


Fort Point Interior.


After the city tour, we hopped on a boat to Alcatraz Island for a tour of the federal prison which was in operation from 1934 through 1963.









Below is a picture of where the knives used to hang in the prison kitchen. This part of the guided audio tour made us laugh (squeamishly). The recording talks about how, despite the best precautions, some kitchen knives were stolen by prisoners to use against other prisoners. This tidbit of information is accompanied by the sound of someone being stabbed in the background. Eek. It's a re-enactment performed by actors of course, but it still sounds rather graphic. It's shocking the first time you hear it. Michelle and I had been on the tour a few years ago so we knew what to expect. We couldn't wait to see the look on Renee's face when she heard the sounds.


View of the San Francisco skyline from Alcatraz Island.

Elephant Self-Portrait

Picture of the Day for 10/20/2011. This picture of an elephant hanging in my niece Michelle's apartment was painted by an actual elephant.* Pretty cool.

*If you're skeptical about this, check out Snopes- a website devoted to confirming or debunking urban legends.

Most Accurate Photograph Ever

Picture of the Day for 10/19/2011. My family was laughing over this photograph taken of my niece Lisa as a newborn nearly 22 years ago. Check out the gesture Lisa is making with her hand. It's like she's saying, "Hello world- f@%k you." If you know Lisa, you realize this is a completely accurate reflection of her personality. She'd be the first to agree.

Tacky Earrings

Picture of the Day for 10/19/2011. I came across these earrings that some former roommates gave me over 20 years ago. There's something magnificent in their* tackiness.

*Their referring to the earrings rather than the roommates. The earrings were given to me as a joke.

Another Hiatus

I'm sorry! I'm afraid I must announce another hiatus. Check back on Tuesday, October 25 for updated blog entries.

Another Work Lunch

Picture of the Day for 10/17/2011. Pictured are Shane and Megan, account representatives from Kaiser Permanente. I've worked with them for years on our mutual client. They flew down from Portland, Oregon just to have lunch with me and another work colleague. It's been several years since I've seen them in person so it was fun getting together.

Movie Stars' Homes Tour

Picture of the Day for 10/16/2011. I had a whole day to myself so I decided to do something completely new (for me) and tourist-y. I drove to Hollywood Blvd (which has to be the seediest place imaginable) and hopped on a tour bus to see the movie stars' homes. We saw the homes of celebrities from "old" Hollywood (Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Elvis) and the residences of the newer stars (Quentin Tarantino, Jimmy Kimmel, James Franco, Katy Perry). The house pictured above was where Michael Jackson was living when he died. Our tour guide just happened to be driving a bus past the house when the ambulance arrived.

My tour ticket also included free admission to Madame Tussauds. I had never visited the wax museum before and found it to be completely fascinating. I wish I had more time to spend there. I took tons of pictures, but since I'm in nerdy space mode, I'll just post the one I took of William Shatner/Captain Kirk.

My Hotel Wasn't THAT Scary

Picture of the Day for 10/15/2011. I mentioned to my work colleagues that I would be staying the weekend at the Holiday Inn on the corner of La Cienega and Century Boulevard by LAX since I got a great Travelocity "secret hotel" deal. They about had a fit and said the location was "shifty." Perhaps my "shifty" meter isn't working properly since I've stayed in FAR WORSE accommodations. The hotel was nice enough and I felt perfectly safe there (something I can't say for every place I've stayed this year).

Gathering of Eagles - Salute to the Space Shuttle

Picture of the Day for 10/14/2011. I attended the Gathering of Eagles - Salute to the Space Shuttle banquet (held in Lancaster, California near the Edwards Air Force Base) hosted by the Flight Test Historical Foundation. Instead of describing the entire event, I'll mention a few highlights. I'm most pleased with the picture above since it was one I was determined to get- me with Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Uhura in the original Star Trek television series. I managed to catch up with her at the end of the evening right before she was about to depart. Nichols was a special guest and spoke about how NASA asked for her help in recruiting astronaut candidates who were female and/or minorities in order to bring diversity to the astronaut pool.


I also managed to snag a picture of myself with Lee Archambault, a shuttle astronaut who was another featured speaker.


I think I've mentioned in previous blog entries that one of my quirky little joys in life is sitting down at a banquet table full of complete strangers. Like Forrest Gump says, you never know what you're going to get. I ended up sitting at table 37 and I was the only one who was actually supposed to be there. The other people were supposed to be seated at table 35. The problem is, there was no table 35 which they realized only after a long period of searching the banquet hall in vain. One of the organizers of the event just had them sit at my table which turned out to be a happy accident since they were all fascinating people. I sat next to the curator of the Intrepid museum in New York which will be the future home of the shuttle Enterprise. His wife is a professional photographer and had a lot of interesting stories to tell about her career. The man sitting across from me excavates crash sites of test planes that have gone down in the vicinity of Edwards Air Force Base.


Dessert was a solid chocolate space shuttle. Very cute.


There were interesting displays and artifacts on the perimeter of the banquet hall.


There was a large crowd in attendance at this event. Although by the end of the very looooong event (four hours), the crowd had thinned out considerably. I was the only one who stuck it out to the very end at my table. Pictured below is my deserted table.

Work Friends

10/14/2011 - I had a work/lunch meeting in Century City, California today. I'm pictured here with my colleagues Jamil and Ana.

By the way, if you ever have a chance to eat at the Obika Mozzarella Bar (as seen in the background), don't pass up this restaurant. It was divine.

Garage Door Frame

Picture of the Day for 10/13/2011. The wooden frame around my garage doors has seen better days. In fact, it looks downright seedy. (Of course the weeds in my driveway don't help.) It also doesn't help that I managed to knock the frame loose during one of my infamous "running into things with my PT Cruiser" incidents. My contractor will be replacing the frame within the next couple of weeks so my house will look slightly more respectable. Now if I could only summon up the energy to pull the weeds...

Cat Eye

Picture of the Day for 10/12/2011. I know this is a rather creepy picture of my red eye. Sorry to inflict it upon you. I'm just documenting what my eyes look like after spending an evening with my sister's cat Jingles. I adore that cat beyond all reason, but I'm virulently allergic to him. I pay dearly for holding and petting him.

Brief Hiatus

Hi Readers. The blog is on a brief hiatus. Check back on Tuesday, October 18th for updated entries!

Woodland Creature Jewelry

Picture of the Day for 10/11/2011. After a brief respite, I've resumed tackling my packing boxes. I came across a box full of jewelry from my childhood and adolescence. From the plethora of woodland creatures* represented in the collection, you can tell it reflects my mother's taste more than mine (even as a child), but it's cute reminder of my mother.

*Chipmunk ring, owl earrings, grizzly bear bracelet, monkey pin

No More Jumpsuits

Picture of the Day for 10/10/2011. My deceased father is still receiving mail. Hope springs eternal for Time and Smithsonian who encourage my dad to renew his subscriptions to those magazines. Sadly, they're out of luck. So is the University of Utah Department of Engineering who would love nothing more than a generous donation. Too bad.

I do get wistful when I receive emails and catalogs from myjumpsuit.com. I would love nothing more than to order a blue seersucker jumpsuit for my dad. He would love it. I kind of hope that's what he's wearing on the "other side."