Visit the kelpforest....

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(Just demoing for Angus, who wanted to know what the html codes were used for...and it's a Twirly Fruit, something you feed your Neopets. Looks like a demented, hyperactive sea cucumber to me...)

I guess I was lucky I drove home yesterday. Apparently a new guy, who works in the other office in our building, was waiting for the bus one stop down from where I usually wait. A black Toyota Corolla pulled up, someone got out and hit him in the head with something; while he's lying there bleeding, they stole everything he had - computer, electronics, etc. He spent the night in the hospital, but should be getting out today.

This is was in broad daylight, 5 pm or so, in a fairly quiet suburban neighborhood. The street does get fairly busy during rush hour, but it's regularly patrolled by police from two cities (our building is in Los Alamitos, but it's Seal Beach directly across the street). I got this in a forwarded email from the other office; it also said there's been a rash of incidents - a carjacking at the Dairy Queen a mile down the road, someone stealing a dog from the neighborhood across the street, and a drunk driver killing a bicyclist a small distance in the other direction (there seems to be a high proportion of accidents along this road; it curves several times and people just drive too fast).

Who knows if the mugging was by someone local or just a random drive-by? But if I hadn't had to go somewhere yesterday evening, I would have been standing there too, well, maybe across the street. I believe I'll call for a ride home this evening. I don't want to stop taking the bus because of this, though.

So, have not seen Dark Knight (although I loved the graphic novel - it's based on the one of the same title, right?), and probably won't until it shows up at the $2 theater, on DVD, or maybe even HBO, where John will turn it on in the last third of the movie (or I'll come home from work and catch him in the middle of it), and then catch earlier bits of it on subsequent showings. It seems most of the recent movies that have come out lately, I see in chunks. It was thus we saw the most recent Die Hard movie. I've now seen the end three times in the last week, and still haven't seen the beginning.

One thing strikes me though. For the last month, the Joker movie posters have been all over the place, especially bus stops, and it kept niggling at me that they reminded me of something. I finally figured out what it was.

This is the bus stop poster:



( And this is what it's reminding me of... )

Eep! The day after I posted the picture of the building on the Navy's property a few days ago, I got an email from someone who works at the station. I opened it with a slight tingle of dread, thinking I was going to be ordered to take it down - I had thought it would be ok as it's a very obvious building, visible for quite a few miles in any direction. How can you miss that giant red & white striped crane? I was relieved to see it was from the Public Affairs officer of the Station, who just offered a bit more information.

Hi Senoritafish.  Google News sent me a link to yesterday's blog entry about the weapons station.  FYI, the building in the picture was used to construct the second stage of the Saturn V moon rocket.  Those huge doors actually still work, and we very occasionally "exercise them" to make sure that they do.  Never know when they might come in handy!  Normally though, the doors on this building stay shut.  Cheers!

(posted with permission)

In the corner of the parking lot at the local Fry's Electronics. Just the perfect way to haul around more than a dozen pallets, right?

I'm a little embarassed to post this, but I had to document it somewhere. It's candy that's available at your local market or liquor store. Body Parts gummy candy.

( This is an ear. )

Earlier in the summer, tsunami warning signs began appearing along the beaches, and on the downhill side of the streets heading to the coast. My part of the city is located on a mesa, so it is the high ground everyone would be running too. This sign is a couple of blocks from my house. And we've got that OC grafitti going on already; that little sticker guy already appeared here.

( Uphill side of the street... )

After I got out of the shower this morning, I kept hearing a constant stream of helicopter noise coming in my windows; thinking it was coming from the city hall a block away, I was wondering why the police were hanging out for so long on top of the building - there's a heliport up there and police helicopters occasionally come and go. I stepped out the front door to see what was up and found the noise was coming from the opposite direction - two news helicopters hovering at what looked like the end of my street. They always look so strange doing that - just hanging there in the sky, perfectly still, no swaying or bobbing.

Came inside and turned on the news, thinking it might be traffic or a pretty weather background shot. Unfortunately, when the story finally came on, it was about a search for missing swimmers. Apparently five guys decided to go for a swim at 2 am and only three came back. One body was already found and they were doing CPR on another just pulled from the surf before I left for work; however, given that the guy had already been in the water for nearly six hours, the prospect didn't look good.

Two am suggests that somebody had a bright idea to go for a swim right after the bar kicked 'em out - there's a good recipe for a Darwin award. Where were the police/lifeguards that are always kicking people off the beach at 10 pm? We had to be carrying permits to go look for grunion after that time. Anyway, sad. I take my kids right along that stretch of beach all the time. I've swam there myself on numerous occasions, sometimes at night.

Thing is sometimes the surf looks deceptively calm; the longshore current can be very strong, and rip currents can easily carry you out past the surf line. I nearly drowned a former boyfriend once after high school because we went out past the surf in the same area, and I didn't realize he wasn't as strong a swimmer as I was; I looked around and saw him behind me struggling weakly to keep his head above water - he never called out to me or anything. Having recently had lifesaving training, I began pushing him back towards the beach; luckily a lifeguard saw us, swam out and carried him in. In the dark it would have been difficult for buddies to keep track of each other, especially if their judgment was impaired.

To be fair, the middle house is on only a half size lot, but still...how would you like to have those neighbors towering over you?

( the sort of new growth I do like... )