Photo Friday - Hot

This is my photo friday submission under the HOT catagory.

John gets grilled

John gets grilled,
originally uploaded by mojoey.

My friend John had a bad day today. While driving to work he had a car accident. He swerved to avoid being hit by another car that entered his lane without warning, but ended up in front of a large big rig traveling behind him in the next lane. He was clipped on the passenger-side rear quarter panel, and sent spinning out of control across the remaining lanes and down a 25-foot embankment, narrowly missing other cars and a few trees. His car was not visible from the freeway; it had plowed under heavy brush while ending up against a fence at the bottom of the embankment. John is lucky to be alive.


Buried in the bushes

Kind of tweaked

Nutball Alert: George Felos

George Felos thinks he can talk to the dead. This outake
from "Litigation as Spiritual Practice' is Nutball material. Give it a read. More to follow.

Things I don't understand

I am starting to see more of these back window memorials each day. Usually they are on the back of a old Astro minivan, or a pickup truck, but always the same "in loving memory…" I don't get it. Why do people do this? This kind of thing should be on a headstone, right?

Our first strawberry

I shot this early today; the poor thing did not survive the day. My wife ate it.

Nutball Alert: Plasticized Fetus Stolen

My prediction is that when the dust settles on this case, we fill find that Pro Life Fundie's are behind the theft of a plasticized fetus stolen from the 'Body World' exhibit in Los Angeles. I'm sure the rational will be something like "the poor soul needed a proper burial". When the two woman who stole the fetus are identifed, they will be added to my Nutball list forever.

The Boy Scouts and Child Porno

"The longtime program director of the Boy Scouts of America and chairman of its Youth Protection Task Force has surrendered on a federal charge of receiving and distributing child pornography on the Internet, the United States attorney's office in Fort Worth said Tuesday" Just when I think the news can slink no lower, a Boy Scouts Executive Surrenders in Fort Worth on a Child Pornography Charge: WTF?

I wonder if Douglas Sovereign Smith was one of the BSA leaders that came out against allowing gays in the Scouts? It would seem disingenuous, no? I wonder if viewing child pornography makes Smith gay, or just a friggen pervert. My best guess is both. I hope they have him on suicide watch.

Pick one bro

I love this one - a stuffed animal that has a pickable nose.

Gas prices are getting out of hand

Gas went up a dime overnight, or at least seven cents. This is getting out of hand very early in the driving season.

Pioneer Donuts, Hawaiian Gardens

Trust me, you don't want to eat here. The shop may have been in place since the 50's, but the place is of questionable quality today. This little light on top signifies when the donut shop is being robbed; it goes off alot.

Cold beer - they sell taro too

There is something about this sign that just screams "come on in". I did, they give me a beer and a brown paper bag big enough to cover the can. I was able to hold it in my hand.

The MBA boys

The MBA boys
Originally uploaded by mojoey.

I ran into my old MBA crew at the Irvine Campus tonight. They all looked pretty whipped. Grad School can kill you if you don't watch out. This photo was taken with my camera phone on the Pepperdine campus in Irvine. It Sucks.

... the camera phone I mean. It takes very poor quality pictures and offers little in the way of quality control. I would not recommend buying the model I have. (its a SAMSUNG)

Euthanasia

I was talking Pastor Brad about the Schiavo case and the subject of Euthanasia. My assertion was that now that we have pulled the feeding tube and water, we have effectively killed her. Giving that we have killed her, would it not make sense to kill her quickly rather than slowly? I suggested euthanasia as a viable option, only to find that the act of removing her feeding tube was considered passive euthanasia. The correct term is active euthanasia. I would actively euthanize my dog if he were brain dead; it is the humane thing to do. I would not want to see my dog suffer any unnecessary pain, should we not feel the same way about Schiavo? Comments?

Death penalty nixed for Bible consultation

Apparently one is not allowed to consult the Bible when considering if a man should be put to death. Five jurors held a mini Bible study during deliberations to determine if they were justified in voting for the death penalty. Why is consulting the Bible a problem? Did the judge view the Bible as a competing authority? – Of course the Judge did. What were these nutballs thinking? They were told not to consult any outside resources. They were to weigh the decision based on their minds and the law. It appears they did not know their own mind. One can take it to the next level too, were they witnessing to their fellow jurors. Were they bringing the religious/ethical decisions into a discussion as well? Having served on a few juries in my day, I can honestly say that the last thing I want to hear is “the bible says…” Now a Robert Harlen will avoid death and live out his life on the taxpayer’s dole. Were the jurors' behaviors appropriate?

You can read an account of the murder of Rhonda Maloney here. Her murderer disserved to die.

Fearless at four

My niece Christine studiously avoided any contact with anything that looked like a snake today at Mike’s reptile party. That is until we brought out an 11 foot, 100-pound Burmese Python that could easily swallow her whole.

Katrina, A brave little girl

Somewhere very deep in my reptilian brain I know instinctively that wearing a poisonous spider as a fashion accessory is not a good idea. This little charmer pulls it off with no fear. I'm not sure I could.

Get a backbone, it's just my pet snake reggie.

Pull out a big snake, and I really do mean a big snake, and every boy within 10 miles will line up to play with it. The only instruction they were given was don't pet its head. (as if)

Be carefull of the head

Wrap a 60-pound snake around a 100-pound boy, tell him not to let it wrap around your neck and watch the head, then let the fun begin. Trinity was celebrating his 12 birthday today, I think he enjoyed himself.

A little squeeze won’t hurt you

Mike Celebrated his 10th birthday today. To celebrate we let him fight for his life (well kind of) against a snake bent on giving him a little hug.

Well OK then

A 63-year-old Wisconsin man has been accused of having sexual relations with cows. Well... sex with a calf actually. He likes them young.

A damn good picture

This is one of the best pictures I have ever seen on a blog: Bethlehem Steel from the Stefko Boulevard Bridge it is from the blog A Walk Through Durham Township -- Photography by Kathleen Connally at www.durhamtownship.com. Kathleen Connally has a great eye.

Here's Johnny

Backstop Cross on Good Friday

To celebrate Good Friday, I'm posting something to remind me of my day. A backstop cross and a clear blue sky. I spent Good Friday outside, which is to say, I was not at work - That makes it a very good day!

Public Art In Cerritos

Posted by: mojoey

Cerritos has an ambitions plan to populate its public spaces with sculptures. This is the latest example, Lillith in bronze by Rosalind Cook. It sits in front of yet another Starbucks on the corner of Del Amo and Pioneer. I'll take some close-ups when the lighting is better.

I understand that Cerritos has commissioned over a dozen sculptures for a planned sculpture garden near the civic center. I hope they allow greater latitude with the concepts than your standard bronze sculpture. Know what I mean?

Concrete in spades

I never get used to how ugly unplanned urban growth can be. Pioneer and Carson in Hawaiian Gardens is great example. A chain link fence keeps people off the gravel, and nothing but blacktop in every direction to facilitate vehicle movement. Add a little public art and the setting just gives me a headache.

Hawaiian Gardens is a stones throw from Cerritos, but the difference is like going from California to Mexico. Trust me, there is nothing “Hawaiian” about Hawaiian Gardens.

This dog shit is MINE!

If you want it so bad, you can have it. No really, you can have it. Wait a minute, since when do dogs shit in a corner? Oh god, the horror!

Disc Golf

My first game of disc golf this spring resulted in a loss to my nine-year-old son Michael. I showed him how to whip it before we started. His first throw was 70 yards. He ended up shooting one under par and beating me by two shots.

Did I mention that I am old (44), my knee hurts, my back hurts worse, and that my kid really did throw almost as far as I could? I've been playing disc golf since the 70s. I can count my losses on my fingers. I hardly ever lose. The last time was three or four years ago on a hilltop course near Lake Waco in Texas. That's the day I learned what chiggers are! What a day.

- I am very proud of my son. Great job Mike!

Tiny?

Photofriday for this week. They are tiny right?

Kimberly Bell outs Barry Bonds on Steroids

I think Bonds is your everyday archetypical superstar jerk athlete, who goes out of his way to set a bad example to our youth. I does not bother me at all that he will miss a season because of a knee injury, in fact it would not bother me if he just stayed away from baseball all together. I am tired of explaining what steroids are to my son.

It would seem that Bonds’ skeletons are coming out of the closet.
The Galvin Opinion has a great summary of the Kimberly Bell interview. Bell, who was Bonds’ mistress, alleges Bonds told her of his steroid use and that she saw the evidence of steroid use on Bonds’ body.

In the interest of fairness, I would like to point out that Bell’s allegations could be sour grapes. She is a woman scorned and could just be making it all up. Everything she said in the interview could have been fabricated. Nah.

See a good picture of Kimberly Bell here.

Ouch

Whoever designed this had a sick sense of humor. It perfectly captures the look one has when… well you get the idea.

Taken while in line at the local Del Taco.

Bicycles graphic, Long Beach

This graphic has been on this building since I was a kid in the 70's. I cannot believe it is still in use.

Blogging 110

I came across a great 'how to" blog today, Blogging 110 by Tony Pierce. I have made the mistake of telling my family about my blog, it has affected my writing.

Crap, time to start over.

Too many colors

being colorblind can suck.

Life or Liberty

I have resisted blogging on Terry Schiavo case because it is a hot button for so many people. The right to life advocates on one side, and what, the right to liberty on the other? At any rate, it is a no win situation for me. I'm going to piss somebody off; more than likely, I'm going to piss a lot of people off. No worries, post whatever response you would like. I appreciate different points of view, and who knows, I could be wrong.

I find myself in a place where I am upset by this weekends attempt by the US Congress to subvert our liberty based on religious ideology. Today, a federal court judge heard arguments in the Schiavo case after the case had already been settled at the Florida State level. The Judge Won't Issue Decision on Schiavo Yet, but the Judge is expected to do so by email sometime in the near future. Schiavo's husband, who has been trying to help his wife realize her wishes, is again being subjected to a potentially lengthy court battle. This mess exists because of the confusion over what the definition of a "persistent vegetative state" actually means. Schiavo's parents reject science, reject independent medical evaluations, and reject the law of our land, they instead choose to believe a giggle or some other reflexive movement signifies sentience. Schiavo's parents are supported in their effort by the Right to Life Movement; this cannot be a good thing. The Right to Life Movement has an agenda, it involves abortion, and they are militant. Who is being irrational here?

Terry Schiavo died 15 years ago. Every assertion as to impropriety, abuse, or neglect raised by Schiavo’s parents has been disproved, in some cases numerous times. Schiavo’s doctors, and independent court appointed doctors have all verified she is in a constant vegetative state. Schiavo is never coming back, whoever she was, died long ago. Now Schiavo is a sad pawn of the Right to Life Movement and has become the victim of her own parent’s misguided efforts to save her. Schiavo’s personal liberty is the issue, she is being denied her right, as gruesome as it may be, to end her own life.

First day of Spring 2005

Today marks the first day of Spring. To celebrate, my family made its annual pilgrimage to H & H Nursery in Lakewood. It was wonderful.

Sorry Jon - I know you are still under two feet of snow, but his may be the best Spring we've had in a very long time. I wish you were here.

Deep Thoughts for March

Too bad there's not such a thing as a golden skunk, becuase you'd probably be proud to be sprayed by one.

Jack Handy - 1992

Beautiful Atrocities link dump

Jeff at Beautiful Atrocities put a nice link dump up yesterday. This time my favorites are Iraqi Historical photos and a link to a bureaucratic screw-up affecting the life of a WWII war hero and reportedly the only living Black Medal of Honor recipient. I spent a good hour in the historical photos alon. Of course, as usual the other links are interesting too. Good post Jeff!

Incidently, Beautiful Atrocities is the type of blog that my blog wants to be when it grows up. That is to say, Deep Thoughts wants to be well written, relevant, and always interesting.

Friday bar hopping

Friday night was a social night for a change. I normally head home and hit the books, but last night was different. I hit two bars for two different events. First was work related social entertaining. I bought a few rounds at El Teritos (on Hawthorn in Torrance) with some co-workers from Boston and Mexico. The bar sucked, but it was still good times. After event #1, it was off to Gameworks in Long Beach to celebrate the departure of two co-workers and the promotion of a third. Gabby, on the right in the picture above, was promoted, Nayan, on the right, is leaving for better pastures.

Smoke

This photo is for Photo Friday under glow. I shot this while sitting around the campfire last weekend. I think the smoke makes the tree look like it is glowing. (well kind of)

Quirky japan homepage

I found this site while doing some research at school tonight, quirky Japan homepage. Can anybody guess the percentage of elementary school children that given unicycle lessons? it's 90%

Random Blog - thewhitertable

I came across this interesting new blog while looking for the lyrics to Marshmallow Man by the Aquabats. You know, Hey big fella, I see you're out of jail, you’ve got a brand new “something or other”…

This aint no funky reggae party….

My buddy Brad at 21st Century Reformation is hosting a charity concert benefiting Tsunami relief at his church (he is a pastor after all). Violet Burning will be the band; they are supposed to be good. Price is $7 at the door. His church is in Artesia, but is a little off the beaten track, so be sure to look it up on Map Quest.

Ocean walkway at Pepperdine

I needed an entry for the Water category for Theme Thursday, this was the best I could do. It’s from a trip I made two weeks ago. The situation made for weird lighting. I had diffused sunlight from the Ocean and a mixture of outdoor flood lighting and ambient reflections. I think it helped case a warm glow to the foreground.

Brown Stump

I found this while on a walk. I loved the whole "death and decay" look that it envokes.

Pro hate

Whenever somebody defines themselves by what they are "Pro" they are really telling us who or what they hate.

Freewait

20 minutes stuck in one spot on the free way, a camera, massive bordom = well, I really don't know what to call it, but I like it.

errr... this is dumb

I was in Wilmington this afternoon when I noticed this AM/PM knockoff. What were they thinking?

How Californians learn Spanish

I see more and more of this type of signage every day. English and Spanish words and phrases on street signs, in stores, and in public spaces, like at the courthouse. I think it’s cool. I took mandatory Spanish for something like five years in grade school and junior high school; it’s nice to have a refresher. Plus, about a third of the people I know speak Spanish as their native language, I’m sure it helps them too.

But I have a problem with this sign, and it’s not a racist language kind of thing. Nope, it is a why in the world did somebody put a 10 foot high sign, pointing at the only building within three miles, in the middle of a the only nice stretch of beach around Lake Perris? You can see the sign from two miles away! It is also impossible to take a picture without the Bano sign in the background. I mean, is somebody going to actually miss the fact that the only building in the area is a restroom? This is California baby, not Waco.

Lake Perris & Sara

Sara, at least I think that is what here name is, was celebrating her father’s birthday at Lake Perris in Riverside. I was reading the Silk Road to International Marketing while my family swam in the lake. Sara and her three brothers asked me if I had any pop to drink, when I said no they when to their family and brought me one. It was cute. I shot a few pictures of Sara and her brothers with my new 300mm, only they all sucked because I did not have the focus set to auto. This is the only one that came out. She is digging a sand castle at the edge of the grass.

The Sureal Life

It has been a weird day. I am camping with my family again, this time close to home at Lake Perris. We are new to the RV thing, so it’s a bit of a challenge that I’ve managed to screw up in small ways. This time I parked too close to a tree and did not get to use our awning, I’m also too far away from the gray water drain (it would help if I brought the gray water hose!). it's all rock n roll though, so no worries.

What are the weird things you ask? Well… I got lost last night, and I never ever get lost. I left the lake to get some supplies, only to find the entrance closed when I returned. Try as I might, I could not find the second entrance because the city of Moreno Valley had changed all the road names, and had removed all the State Park signs. The only roads with signs sent me on long rides to the scary parts of town. I finally followed a homeless family, living in their dilapidated 30 year old RV. They were on their way to the Lake to squat on a campsight after hours for free (I know this because they parked within sight of me and I watched them get evicted in the morning). So, a fifteen minute trip turned into two hours of frustration.

When I finally settled in for the night, I was serenaded by the sounds of competing country bands coming from the dozen or so look alike RV/4x4/jet boat owning skinhead & goatee wearing rednecks who had parked around me. I was in trailer park hell… it went on till 2 in the morning.

Today I woke early; it was peaceful and quiet… for about an hour. At about 8:00 a.m. I watched as an Indian family pitched a tent as big as my house, and then filled it with a TV, a stereo, and furniture, all new and right out of the box. They promptly started playing bollywood movies and music… all freeken day! I walked by their tent this evening on the way to the head, they were dancing.

All day long a strange blond girl has been running laps while talking to herself. She is about 12 and might be special, she barked when I said hi.

A fat lady in the campsite behind me spent the day writing songs, which she’s been singing, while drunk, most of the evening.

A squirrel jumped from the roof of the public restroom into the stall next to mine. It scared the shit out of me.

And to top it all off, a band off hookah smoking teenagers are riding around (high) on their mountain bikes singing obscure Sublime songs at the top of their lungs.

Oh, I spent the day studying and writing papers. Fun, but a tad on the surreal side.

Palm Trees in the OC

Palm trees must be the state tree of LA. They are everyplace. I caught this view from my truck this afternoon near John Wayne airport in Orange County. There must be 500 palm trees within a mile of the airport; it is possible to over do a theme.

Ugly Phone lines

There are some things that I find ugly - phone lines are a good example.

Did I mention this was taken in Carson?

Gradient Graffiti

I saw this on the ride to work this morning. It was fresh. I stopped to shoot a few pictures and could not help but notice the gradient on the lettering. It was so “Photoshop” pretty.

Parking structure at sundown

I see this image each Thursday at 5:00 p.m. as I set in a class room in Irvine. I like the way the curtain drops a redish veil over the parking structure at Sundown. I keep telling myself to take a picture, but I usually don't bring my camera to school. Today I did.

Bike Rack and Boulder

So I was hiking last weekend and found this bike rack positioned against a boulder in the middle of freaken no where. I thought, wow, why would someone need a bike rack in the middle of no where, I have not even seen a bike on this trip. I looked around to ask someone, but did not see anyone.

I am sure it was a good idea at the time.

Why I love Joshua Tree

Look in any direction, and this is the vista, beautiful!

Why others love Joshua Tree

Rock climbing here is world class. On any given weekend, hundreds of climbers like this one are trying their skills against thousands of rated and named climbs. I used to climb. I miss it.

The rock formation in the background is about five miles away. The climber is about 20 feet off the ground.

A carpet of gold

The lower the elevation, the better the flowers. It actually got better than this.

worms eye view

I shot this one as I was bending over picking two-inch long needles from my left leg. The damn things were strong enough to penetrate my blue jeans and then dig half an inch into my calf. I had to delicately pick 15 needles out without breaking them. While picking, I happened to notice the view and snapped a shot.

Did I mention the needles hurt?

Skull Rock

This is one of serveral intersting rock formations in Joshua Tree and is easily accessable from the road just north of Jumbo Rocks.

McDonalds abstract, Joshua Tree

During a much needed Chicken McNuggets (and coffee) run during our recent camping trip, I happened to look up and see this interesting collection of angles and colors. Being colorblind myself, any combination of colors that I can clearly see excites me. Don't ask me what colors they are, I just like the fact that I see them.

Almost Flowers

It was raining and cold at Joshua Tree on Saturday - too cold for flowers. I bet it blooms in a few weeks. This was taken near Skull Rock, it was drizzling at the time.

Across from Hall of Horrors

A very cold and wet day in Joshua Tree - I shot this while standing in a wash facing this large rock formation, it is called Saddle Rock at Sheep's Pass. The Hall of Horrors parking lot is at my back.

I am told the climb is called "walk on the wild side" and is a Joshua Tree Classic.

Our Camping Rig

My family likes to camp. This year we moved up from a tent to a tent trailer. The one shown here is a Fleetwood Evolution. It is made for off road use, but we bought it because it is made to last. We took it on a few rough roads this trip and it performed well. I like that it is built on a standard tire size with high ground clearance. Plus it’s small enough to put in our garage.

I still need to work on backing up with it, and next trip we will defiantly have tire chocks! Setup is a breeze. It took maybe 25 minutes. Break down takes about 35 minutes. It is easy enough to operate that my wife could do it by herself. Oh, and the propane fueled heater is quite nice!

This picture is inside Joshua Tree National Park at Quail Springs.