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.

Day 905 - Veteran's Day Flags - 11.11.13

It was Veteran's Day today and at work they put up some flags in commemoration.  I took this photo as I was walking in this morning.  It was something I saw today.

Day 904 - Nutcracker Rehearsal - 11.10.13

I spent the afternoon taking pictures at Nutcracker rehearsals this afternoon.  This little dancer gave me one of the funnier faces of the day and is my favorite photo today.  So much attitude in that expression.  This was something I saw today.

Day 903 - Bookshelf - 11.09.13

This morning I spent a lot of time in my library taking photographs of record jackets.  Since I was in there I took notice of a section of the library with some comic collections and graphic novels.  I like to have this out and on hand so I can pick them up and read now and again.  This was something I saw today.

Day 902 - Towers at Sunrise - 11.08.13

This morning I got up early as usual, but this morning I had to drive into work to print up a paper for my daughter.  By the time I got it printed up and was getting in my car to come back home the sun was coming up.  This is a view from the back parking lot looking back toward the LA River and Glendale.  This was something I saw today.

Day 901 - Autumn Tree - 11.07.13

It was a beautiful fall morning again today so I drove through Griffith Park again looking for some pretty trees to photograph.  This is one of the trees that was changing colors.  It was something I saw today.

Day 900 - Autumn Leaves - 11.06.13

This morning before work I drove over to Griffith Park to look for a photo.  I saw a tree with some vibrant orange and yellow leaves which I thought was nice.  It looked like fire.  It was something I saw today.

Day 899 - Cement Medians - 11.05.13

This morning before work I decided to swing by the lot across from the Burbank train station.  I had previously noticed that there were stacks of cement medians like you see along the highway when there is some construction or something like that.  I thought there might be some interesting photo opportunities so I swung by.  This is one of the pictures looking through one stack back to another stack.  It was something I saw today.

Day 898 - ZZ Top "Deguello" 8-Track - 11.04.13

Today was the first day of working with the clocks turned back which meant it was very dark when I got home this evening.  So I dug into the box of 8-Tracks for tonight's photo.  As a kid the song I really loved off this record was "Cheap Sunglasses."  I really liked some of this earlier ZZ Top music, more so than their big hits in the 80's.  Looking back I can appreciate the 80's hits off "Eliminator" for example, but at the time I wasn't the biggest fan.  I did get a kick out of those videos.  They had some great videos.  Okay, enough nostalgia.  This 8-track from 1979 was something I saw today.

Day 897 - Nancy & Alvaro - 11.03.13

This morning I got up early to take some photos of a friend and her boyfriend.  This was my first attempt at shooting couple photography.  I like how this one came out.  It was something I saw today.

Day 896 - Fake Fall Flower - 11.02.13

Today we put the Halloween decorations away and set out the Thanksgiving/Fall decorations.  So we've got turkey's in the window and pilgrims on the ledge by the front door.  On our dining room table we now have a vase of "Fall" colored flowers, which are fake. This synthetic yellow flower was something I saw today.

Day 895 - AC/DC "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" 8-Track - 11.01.13

Here is another classic album from the box of 8-tracks.  Dirty Deeds.  It was something I saw today.