Waiting for my plane

Tal dropped me off at the airport and I'm at the gate...using a crappy kiosk to blog. You won't hear from me for at least a week...I'm off to Nantucket, land of Melville, Captain Ahab, and John Kerry. I'm scanning the crowd for suspicious characters...wondering if I can grab a beer before take-off...hey...is that Rick Fox - former Tarheel and current Laker?

The Rugged Outdoorsman

Went on a long bike ride with Tal today. It was about 7 miles up to a big reservoir. At one point the trail got pretty steep, and I thought I might puke...but I didn't. Click the photo of me above for an action shot.

Dodgers and Yankees

Lucked out and got tickets to see the Dodgers play the Yankees on Friday night. It was the largest regular season attendance in Dodger history, and everybody got to see a great game. The Dodgers came back from behind to win, then a fight broke out a few rows down from us. The highlight of the game was when the bullpen gate swung open and Eric Gagne ran to the mound. The crowd chanted "game over" and they were right. It would be his 80th save in a row.

Lunch at Uncle John's

Had lunch at the greasiest spoon in LA, Uncle John's. They cook everything in the same wok. It sits atop a nest of flames, and when Uncle John hits the gas pedal at his feet, the flames flare and a grease cloud rolls down the counter. Pretty good chow mein.

The Torch

The Olympic torch ran by our office today. From a distance, I thought the torchbearer was Tonya Harding...but it wasn't.

Last night at LAX

Dropped off Sarah and the kids for their trip to Nantucket. In line we met a group of families who were making their way home from China with newly adopted children.

We thought we lost Talia's doll, but I found it back in the minivan.

Midnight in Koreatown

Every Sunday night I drive back from the office through Koreatown. The sky is always like this. All the lights of the city get trapped in the mixture of smog and fog. Sometimes it's orange, sometimes it's pink. You can hear helicopters and planes buzzing around in it, but they remain hidden with the stars.

Picture of the Day 6/10/04

Talia and Pluto.

Mount Rushmore

On Memorial Day weekend, we packed up the minivan and drove down to Legoland. I'd never been there. It's an amusement park where everything is made of Lego. Look, it's the Statue of Liberty made out of Lego! Look, it's Darth Vader, and he's made out of Lego. Check it out - a new Ford Explorer - made entirely of Lego! Needless to say, after a few hours - the novelty starts to wear off.

One of the more interesting exhibits was a model of Mount Rushmore in Lego. And now that President Reagan has died, I've heard several people suggest that he should be added to the real Mount Rushmore. This notion always bugged me, because I always thought of Mount Rushmore as a work of art, not as a work-in-progress, or an add-on-as-you-go hall of fame. The idea of adding another face to the piece would be just as absurd as painting Reagan into the background of the Mona Lisa - but maybe that's on the list, too.

I would hope that we'd find some original ways of memorializing the dead, rather than piggy-backing on yesterday's creativity. As a compromise, I would not have any problem with Reagan's face being added to the Legoland version of Mount Rushmore.

Welcome to the Frogstorm

Woke up. Got the kids dressed. Talia wanted longer socks, so we had a few costume changes. Willa and I dropped Talia off at her daycare. She told us "adios" and we drove to Burger King. Willa insisted on getting some cini-minis. Then she told me she needed to pee, so we tried the restroom. It was awful. Too nasty to describe. Poor Willa was so disturbed by the sight of it, she told me she didn't need to pee anymore. We drove to her school. She gave me a hug goodbye.

Now I'm at work. I still can't shake the image of that Burger King restroom. There's something odd about that place. A few weeks ago there was a cleaning crew in plastic suits, gloves, masks, etc steam blasting something out of the outdoor playground. Enough already, I won't go back.