Day 955 - New Year Cupcake - 12.31.13

My daughter made some more cupcakes today.  She even made the 2014 chocolate decoration.  The cupcakes were even filled with fudge.  Yum.  This was something I saw today.

Day 954 - Nutcracker - 12.30.13

This evening I cooked up some stuffed portabello mushrooms of my own recipe.  As I was making them I thought I'm going to photograph one for my picture today.  The thought then went out of my head and I didn't think of it again until I had eaten all but two bites.  So I have no picture of a stuffed mushroom today.  Instead I have one of the nutcrackers that sits on our dining room table.  It was something I saw today.

Day 953 - Mr. Bill - 12.29.13

This is the latest addition to my collection of bendable figures.  I got him for Christmas.  It was something I saw today.

Day 952 - Buckeye Storm Sewer - 12.28.13

This morning we drove back to the homestead.  We stopped in Buckeye for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  As we were walking back to the car I noticed this cool manhole cover.  It was something I saw today.

Day 951 - Portillo's - 12.27.13

Today we did a lot of driving around town.  One of the stops was for a tasty Chicago lunch at Portillo's. Yum.  I had a Chicago dog of course.  It was something I saw today.

Day 950 - Remote Control Corvette - 12.26.13

This is one of the gifts Santa brought me this year, a remote control car.  I've wanted a proper remote control car ever since I was a kid and every year I hope Santa will bring me one.  This year he did.  I've had fun driving it around the house.  This was something I saw today.

Day 949 - Christmas Tree - 12.25.13

Christmas was very relaxing today.  Didn't leave the house.  Had some great food.  Watched a bunch of "We Can Be Heroes" and "Summer Heights High".  As the sun was going down I took this photo of my mom's Christmas tree.  You can see some leftovers from the morning's gift unwrapping.  It was something I saw today.

Day 948 - Christmas Cupcakes - 12.24.13

I finally started feeling better this afternoon.  Maybe it was the sight of these yummy cupcakes my daughter made.  They were something I saw today.

Day 947 - Joy To The World - 12.23.13

Another sick day.  Running a fever of 101 and out of it.  This is a pillow at my mother's.  it was something I saw today.

Day 946 - Snowmen on Piano - 12.22.13

I was even sicker today.  I slept a lot and didn't go out.  I did take a moment to grab a photo of these snowmen on my mother's piano.  It was something I saw today.

Day 945 - Hot Air Balloon - 12.21.13

Drove to my mother's today.  As I drove my sickness returned with a vengeance.  All I wanted to do when I arrived was go lay down.  I took this picture of a hot air balloon from my mother's driveway before I did.  It was something I saw today.

Day 944 - Slinky - 12.20.13

A slinky is one of the great toys.  I had slinkies as a kid and I loved sending them down stairs.  Even today as an adult I have a Slinky.  I used to have it in my office at work, but now I have it on a shelf in my record room.  This is my Slinky and it was something I saw today.

Day 943 - Rainy Christmas Lights - 12.19.13

One of the things I love about the holiday season are the holiday lights.  Even at work things look better when the holiday lights go up.  I actually love walking down this path in the evening when leaving because of how pretty it looks.  Today it rained most of the day which made it even prettier this evening because of the way the lights sparkle off the water.  This was something I saw today.

Day 942 - Tom Bradley International Terminal - 12.18.13

My son returned from the Philippines this morning.  I picked him up at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.  The flight was a little late so I had to wait a while.  I snapped a couple photos while waiting.  This is the cafe next to the area where I waited for him to arrive.  This was something I saw today.

Day 941 - Motley Crue "Too Fast For Love" LP - 12.17.13

Today was another long tiring day at work.  I did not have any time for photographs and so I waited until the end of the day when I got home.  This Motley Crue record I picked up over the Thanksgiving Holiday in Arizona.  For the most part I would say I am not a Motley Crue fan.  I absolutely love this first record of theirs, but my interest fades with each record.  I wouldn't say I hate all the rest of the music.  I mean who could hate "Home Sweet Home".  However I have little interest in most of their other output later in the 80's.  This record, though, is nearly perfect.  It is raw and in my opinion still has a little punk rock attitude woven into the fiber of the record.  The last track "On With The Show" is my favorite Crue song.  An interesting side note to that is that when I first heard Green Day's "Jesus of Suburbia" I instantly recognized a chunk of that song that sounded just like "On With The Show".  If you do any reading about that song or the whole American Idiot album you'll quickly learn that Green Day were ripping off everyone on that album.  Jesus of Suburbia the 9 minute epic steals from all over the place.  You'll hear everything from ripping from "Jesus Christ Superstar" to ripping from Oasis. I guess if you are going to steal, steal from the best.  Anyway, that is a long way of saying this record was something I saw today.

Day 940 - Nativity Candle Holder - 12.16.13

I finally went back to work today.  I had a lot to catch up on which meant it was a very long day.  I didn't get home until after 8PM, which meant looking for a photo op around the house.  This little candle holder was put out for the holidays.  It was something I saw today.

Day 939 - Pink Sunset - 12.15.13

Today was a nice relaxing Sunday.  Got up and went to church.  Then for the first time in a long time we had the afternoon completely free to relax.  Then I make some stuffed portabello mushrooms for dinner.  It was a recipe that I had not done for a few years and they turned out really, really good.  I don't know why I had stopped making them.  After cooking I was doing the dishes and I saw the sky turning a most beautiful pink.  I took a break, grabbed my camera and stepped outside foe a photo.  This sunset was something I saw today.

Day 938 - Baby Eye Cameo - 12.14.13

This morning I took some photos of a family.  The poor mother has three children under the age of 2.  Her husband was supposed to be there for the photos, but got called into work in the middle of the night.  So needless to say, she showed up juggling three little ones.  One is almost two and the others are twins less than a year old.  The kids were as cute as can be.  For the twins I did quite of bit of these types of super close portraits.  On this one and several others like it I had such sharp focus on the eye that if you look really closely you can see my reflection sitting on the ground taking the photo.  I'll call it my cameo.  This was something I saw today.

Day 937 - Pipeline Membership ID Card - 12.13.13

It was another day home sick.  Today I came across my old Pipeline membership card, which was on the stand next to my bed.  I found this this past summer in a box.  I had been searching for it for a few years actually, so I was pretty excited when I found it.  I brought it into the house and it has been next to my bed ever since.  I knew that at some point I would photograph it. 

For those who don't know Pipeline was one of the last skate parks from the 70's explosion to operate into the 80's.  During the summer of 1987 the family vacationed in California and I made the pilgrimage to Upland, California so I could skate Pipeline.  I was 16 years old and had just gotten a driver license.  I can't believe I was driving these Southern California highways at such a young age.  I remember when driving there with my cousins it was shortly after a rash of highway shootings in LA.  They kept joking that we had to watch out for guns.  I only went to the park once.  I believe it closed the following year and was demolished.  I'm glad I still have this memento of the park.  It was something I saw today.

Day 936 - Journey "Escape" Cassette - 12.12.13

Today was another sick day.  I slept a ton, which is actually great because up until today I was only sleeping 1-2 hours at a time.  So when I slept 4 hours this afternoon, that was an improvement.  Needless to say I did not go out and so I picked up another of my original cassettes from back in 1982.  This tape saw a lot of action back in the day.  I loved side 2.  This was something I saw today.

Day 935 - Billy Squire "Don't Say No" Cassette - 12.11.13

So last night was miserable.  I slept only a couple hours because I was so sick.  I stayed home today and resorted to photographing this tape which is one of the first taped I ever owned.  This was something I saw today.

Day 934 - Christmas Tree 2013 - 12.10.13

I went to work today, but I just got sicker throughout the day.  At lunch I even went and slept in my car and I mean actually slept.  I was out like a light.  By the end of the day my nose was running like a water faucet and my throat was killing me.  As bad as I felt I realized on the way home that if I had any hope of getting the Christmas decorations up before our Christmas party this Saturday that I needed to do it tonight.  So we dug out the boxes and put up the tree and decorations.  Of course many of the lights on the tree were not working and so we had to make a quick Target run.  We got everything up by about 9:30.  The irony is that as I have been getting sicker and sicker, I am probably going to miss work tomorrow and the screening and party I was supposed to go to.  That means that I'll be home and could have probably put the decorations up Wednesday.  Oh well.  That's what I get for thinking I was getting better.  So this is the tree and it was something I saw today.

Day 933 - Cap'n Crunch's Christmas Crunch - 12.09.13

Today I took a sick day from work.  I stayed home and worked on photos all day long.  Didn't feel like going out and hunting for a photo so a snapped this one of the cereal I bought this past week.  I love the packaging.  It was something I saw today.

Day 932 - Closing Day - 12.08.13

Today was a little easier as far as Nutcracker goes.  We had a later call time and so we could take our time this morning.  I would say we slept in, but I was still up before dawn working on photos.  My daughter did get to sleep in, which she really needed.  Then we only had two performances and so my daughter and I were done by 7:30 and my wife who helps with the costumes was done by 8PM.  It was a hard year, but there were some great moments.  Not on seeing my daughter dance as Snow Queen, but having my mother here to see her granddaughter perform was great as well.  This photo is a great way to sum it all up, my daughter as the Snow Queen in the costume that my wife labored over for weeks in a photo taken by me.  This was something I saw today.

Day 931 - The Jester - 12.07.13

Today was very, very long.  We had 3 performances today.  Call time was 7:45 AM and we were at the theater until 10:30 at night.  We had a brief break around dinner time to sneak back home for some down time and dinner.  Everyone is exhausted.  With that said I did see some amazing dancing today.  This is my daughter's friend performing as the Jester.  She is great.  This was something I saw today.

Day 930 - Overture - 12.06.13

One of the new things in this year's production of The Nutcracker are a mother and a daughter acrobat.  The mother performs during the overture and the daughter opens up act II as the arc angel also performing some scarf acrobatics.  They were both super talented and a fun addition to the show.  This is something I saw today.

Day 929 - Nutcracker Dress Rehearsal - 12.05.13

Today starts the final insanity with a long day of Nutcracker dress rehearsal.  We got to the theater a little after lunch and were there until after 10PM.  I took a couple thousand photos.  Most of which are out of focus and lame.  Because lighting cues were still being worked out many times I did not have ideal lighting situations.  However there were a few gems amongst the many and this is one of them.  This is Sugar Plum and Cavalier.  I am so pleased with how this one came out.  It was something I saw today.

Day 928 - Sunrise Over the LA River - 12.04.13

This morning was one of those early mornings where I had to drive into work to print up a paper for my daughter.  I took the time to go up to the balcony where I have taken photos before.  I have never taken one at dawn and since I was there at a good time to snap this photo looking over the LA River.  It was something I saw today.

Day 927 - Six Million Dollar Man - 12.03.13

This past weekend in Apache Junction I found this unopened copy of this Six Million Dollar Man Christmas Adventures.  I was so excited.  I thought it made for a good subject today.  It was something I saw today.

Day 926 - Exit - 12.02.13

This hallway is just around the corner from my office.  As you can see it is pretty dark where I work.  This was something I saw today.

Day 925 - Windmills at Dawn - 12.01.13

The family and I got up at 2:30AM Arizona time and hit the road back to California this morning.  By leaving so early we were able to make it to the windmills outside Palm Springs by dawn.  I pulled over to take a photo.  I couldn't have timed it better.  This was something I saw today.

Day 924 - Park and Swap - 11.30.13

Today we started out going to El Gran Mercado a big Mexican swap meet, but once we got there it turned out that it was no longer open.  So instead of heading home we broke out the phones and looked up another swap meet.  This was the Phoenix Park And Swap swap meet.  To be honest I was rather disappointed.  I was hoping for more used things, but instead it was basically a big 99 cents store.  I was also hoping for more of a Mexican flavor, but it was lacking in that too in my opinion.  There was this churro vendor, though.  It was something I saw today.

Day 923 - The Starlite Motel Diving Lady - 11.29.13

Today we saw some fun sights.  We went to Apache Junction this afternoon for a some old west stuff which included an old white chapel.  Then this evening we went to Mesa and I took pictures of the Diving Lady at the Starlite Motel.  I love old neon signs like that.  It was something I saw today.

Day 922 - Thanksgiving Rolls - 11.28.13

It was Thanksgiving today.  This is stack of rolls my daughter made.  I helped her stack them.  In the background is a Latke Larry doll that I gave my mother for Christmas a few years back.  Since it was also Chanukah we thought we could have him out for the festivities as well.  He sings a song and the voice is Jerry Stiller.  We love him.  This was something I saw today.

Day 921 - LA Traffic - 11.27.13

Today we did our pilgrimage from Burbank to Gilbert, AZ which meant that we spent hours in LA traffic.  As the sun was going down I popped out the camera for this shot of the traffic.  It was something I saw today.

Day 920 - President Obama at DreamWorks - 11.26.13

Today we had President Obama stop by and give a speech.  Actually that makes it seem like he just swung by on a whim.  In fact plans for his visit began weeks ago as the secret service started scoping out the place.  The campus has had a bunch of cosmetic improvements in preparation for the president as well.  Then we couldn't even park at work this morning.  We had to park at the LA Zoo and then we were shuttled to work.  Then when we got there most of the campus was blocked off.  We had to go through security to get on campus and then once on campus we had to go through security again to get into the area where the president was going to speak.  We had to wait in line for that and once we were there waiting, we had to wait a couple hours for the president to speak.  I of course wandered around taking photos.  The speech was good.  DreamWorks employees for the most part are big supporters and so he was preaching to the choir for sure.  All in all it was a pretty neat experience even if it was a bit of a hassle.  So this was something I saw today.

Day 919 - The Who "Who's Next" 8-Track - 11.25.13

Today there was something really cool happening at work in anticipation for an event tomorrow, but I can't share any of those images.  So I resorted to an old 8-track.  Who's Next is a classic record and it was something I saw today.

Day 918 - Snow Queen - 11.24.13

This afternoon was the first Nutcracker dress rehearsal.  My daughter was dressed in her full Snow Queen costume.  This was something I saw today.

Day 917 - Adipose Cupcake - 11.23.13

Today was the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.  I've been a Doctor Who fan for most of my life.  I began watching back in the summer of 1979 which was shortly after it began airing in the united states.  So today was a pretty special day and so we celebrated with some friends.  We had fish fingers and pudding, two kinds of bow tie pasta, tardis rice crispy treats, jelly babies and these cute adipose cupcakes that my wife made.  The we watched the 50th anniversary special.  I must say the end was super fantastic and I teared up in the last scene with Tom Baker.  I think it was a poetic to have the doctor's last incarnation be one of my favorite doctor.  I also love the idea that the doctor retires to a museum in London.  So this cupcake was something I saw today.

Day 916 - Horizontal Tree - 11.22.13

This morning I drove over to Griffith Park again.  This time I was doing a bit of a location scout for some photos I have to take tomorrow morning. I liked the way this tree could double as a bench.  The ditch in the background kind of ruins it for my purposed tomorrow, but it is okay for the blog.  This was something I saw today.

Day 915 - Rainy Olive Walk - 11.21.13

Living in southern California, I get tired of the constant sunny days.  I long for cloudy days and even more I love it when it is a rainy day.  So I was very happy this morning when it was raining.  Unfortunately by mid morning the rain was gone and the sun was out again.  Oh well.  This is a photo I took at work when I first arrived in the morning.  It was something I saw today.

Day 914 - Black and White Trees - 11.20.13

This morning I stopped at Bette Davis park and took some photos.  I liked the contrast of the dark and light trees.  This was something I saw today.

Day 913 - Thanksgiving Flag - 11.19.13

This morning before heading to work I stepped out onto my front lawn to take this shot of the Thanksgiving flag hanging on my house.  It was something I saw today.

Day 912 - Diwali Dancing - 11.18.13

Today at work we had a Diwali celebration at lunch.  There was Indian food, decorations, henna tattoos and dancing.  This is one of my coworkers showing his stuff.  This was something I saw today.

Day 911 - Dew Drop Fairy Rehearsal - 11.17.13

This afternoon I swung by The Nutcracker rehearsals.  My daughter was helping out with one of the rehearsals.  I of course took a few photos.  This is one of the dancers rehearsing for her role as Dew Drop Fairy.  This was something I saw today.

Day 910 - Dancer At The Observatory - 11.16.13

This morning I got up before dawn to go with my family to the Griffith Park Observatory for some early morning photos before the crowds came.  We also met some friends there and I took some photos of their girls.  It was a good morning and I got a lot of really good photos.  This is one of my daughter looking down some stairs.  It was something I saw today.

Day 909 - Pilgrims - 11.15.13

I never really left the house today.  I stayed home from work sick.  So I found something around the house to photograph.  These two pilgrims were something I saw today.

Day 908 - Rockettes on Hollywood Blvd. - 11.14.13

Tonight my daughter danced at the tree lighting ceremony at Hollywood and Highland.  Afterwards we went out onto Hollywood Blvd for a quick photo.  This was something I saw today.

Day 907 - The Who "Live At Leeds" 8-Track - 11.13.13

After yesterday's adventure I needed to take a break with today's photo so I dug back into my box of 8-tracks.  I have to comment a bit on this album.  It shows off one of the great flaws of 8-tracks and that was the limited amount of time on each track.  On this record it means that the fourteen plus minute version of "My Generation" is split across two tracks.  So right in the middle of the long instrumental jam it fades out changes tracks and then fades back in.  How completely annoying.  In recent years I picked this record up on vinyl and "My Generation" is uninterrupted and glorious.  So this 8-track was something I saw today.

Day 906 - Santa Cruz Island - 11.12.13

Today for work we went to Santa Cruz Island for a bonding experience.  Most of my coworkers went kayaking, but a few of us just went on a hike.  This was one of the views from one of the bluffs.  You can see a barge chugging through the shipping lane.  It was something I saw today.