Author Archives: momdude

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About momdude

Space cadet | Family dude | Photographer | Music lover | Traveler | Science fiction fan | Hugo Award nominee | Writer | 5x NASA Social participant | KC Chiefs fan | LA Kings fan | Senior Director of Finance & Administration for ALS Network | Member & former staff Finance Officer at the Commemorative Air Force SoCal Wing | Hard core left-wing liberal | Looking for whatever other shenanigans I can get into
February 15, 2025 · 19:28

Music Festival In LA Great Park

We’re down at the Music Center for our next Ahmanson production (Sondheim’s “Old Friends” with Bernadette Peters – looking forward to this one!) and at the Great Park down the hill there’s a big music festival going on.

Most folks don’t even know that LA has a Great Park, including most folks who have lived in LA for decades. It’s not as big as New York’s Central Park, but it’s not small.

The Music Center (Ahmanson, Taper, Chandler) and Disney Concert Hall are here on these north end, City Hall is off to the south, the Hall of Justice and Cathedral are on the east (left), and there’s a ton of parking underneath it all, so it’s convenient.

Welcome to Los Angeles, City of Hidden Wonders!

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Filed under Los Angeles, Music, Photography, Video

February 14, 2025 · 23:23

No Context For You – February 14th

A Valentine’s Day years ago…

Mysterious are the ways of the random search algorithm through tens of thousands of photos over more than twenty-five years…

I’m not sure what clan this tartan is from, but I suspect it’s Burlington Coat Factory Clearance Bin.

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Filed under Photography

February 13, 2025 · 23:33

Downpour

The previous 24 hours of mist and drizzle and light rain was just fine – we’ve been falling into a drought this year, way behind on the normal Year-To-Date rainfall totals in SoCal.

This afternoon’s hour-long downpour inspired hours of blaring warnings on every TV channel, with a mudslide and flash flood warning that extended until well after the rain had actually abated.

No problems here, but we’re at the top of a hill. If we start getting flooded, there’s a guy named Noah who gets to tell the rest of the story. Our biggest concern would be intersections and streets flooded out down below the hills, and we can avoid most of that by simply staying home.

On the other hand, up in the mountains, it was snow. I’ve been watching the bald eagle webcam and they were buried, sitting on their three eggs:

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Filed under Photography, Video, Weather

February 12, 2025 · 23:40

Back To The Gym

The good thing about having a trainer, especially one that you’ve paid in advance, is that you have motivation and some pressure to return to training if something (i.e., “LIFE”) has derailed your training program.

The bad thing is having pressure to return to training.

Between the holidays, me getting a bad cold, me having kidney stones and then getting a bad infection, and then me taking some industrial strength antibiotics that have serious restrictions on exercise, it had been about six weeks.

Being a responsible, intelligent adult (which, for the record, often SUCKS!) my head was actually looking forward to getting back to the gym. Having slacked off for a month and a half, my body wanted to scream and run the other way.

My trainer is excellent and knew just how far to back off due to the six week layoff, and how far to push to see how much I had slipped. (It’s not that bad.) But by the time the hours was done, I did feel a lot like I had been beaten from head to toe by a squad of goons with baseball bats.

Yeah??!! Whoopie??!!

The part I’m still curious about but probably never going to figure out (I am not a doctor nor do I have a “medical” or “biological” brain – physics I can soak up like a sponge, biology and physiology and the like just bounce harmlessly off of my ears and never reach my brain) is how antibiotics can require such stringent restrictions on exercise due to the fact that they can cause tendon damage, particularly to the Achilles tendon.

Say what?

A drug I’m taking to kill an infection in my urinary tract (caused by kidney stone damage) can cause my Achilles or hamstring to rupture if I exercise while taking it? HOW? What’s the mechanism? How are the two connected?

Some things are just mysteries, I guess.

Meanwhile, how many Extra Strength Excedrin can I take before something “bad” happens? Not asking for a friend…

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Filed under Health, Paul

February 11, 2025 · 22:10

Neptune

A dozen days ago I shared some pictures of the young, crescent moon and Venus, and in passing I said:

Not seen, but also there, is Neptune, just to the left of Venus. I might be able to pick it out as a pinpoint with my 8″ telescope (Venus and Saturn will show visible disks, Saturn’s rings would be clearly visible) and it might show some blue color, but the iPhone doesn’t have a chance.

Which, of course, led me straight down a rabbit hole of detailed star maps and pushing the pixels visible in a raw iPhone 13 image.

First of all, while this may have been the full-sized image:

…when you blow it way, way up and crop the area around Venus and those power lines, you get this (you probably have to click on these images to blow them up to full-screen size to see what I’m talking about):

And it’s pretty easy to see what I had referred to as a “quadralateral of four dimmer stars” (highlighted in the annotated image below):

After searching for some much more detailed and precise online star maps (courtesy of The Sky Live) and setting the parameters to match my photos, I had a MUCH better idea where Neptune truly was at the time I took the photos.

So, there’s Venus, and there’s that asterism of four dim stars, so Neptune should be right…THERE!

“…but the iPhone doesn’t have a chance.” Color me shocked, I wouldn’t have bet on that in a thousand years, but there it is!

Dumb And Dumber Quotes So Youre Telling Me Theres A Chance

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography

February 10, 2025 · 23:38

Sunset Launch

Just about perfect “just after sunset” timing for a SpaceX launch out of Vandenberg. I missed it, but my daughter caught it from near Downtown LA.

(Photo: Michi Willett)

I ran outside.

The rocket was long gone over the southern horizon, but the high altitude contrail, still lit up by the sun somewhere over the horizon to the west, was still glowing.

The other view I’ve seen is from the Virtual Railfan Hesperia/Cajon Pass webcam. If you can see a copy later, grab it. It’s great to see that when we move up to the High Desert we’ll still be able to see launches.

It lasted for a while, until the Sun moved on and the contrail dissipated.

 

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Filed under Airshows, Critters, Photography, Space, Sunsets

February 9, 2025 · 23:59

Inferior Bowl – Super Party

We were ready! First light for the new flag as well! (The old one had been shredded to bits by the high winds last month.)

We had a good crowd, as expected, about 20 friends, family, and co-workers.

Sadly, the Eagles’ defense was on their game and completely shut down the Chiefs’ offense until late in the third quarter, by which time the score was seriously out of reach. The Vuvuzela of Victory sat sad, silent, and lonely.

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Filed under Critters, KC Chiefs, Photography

February 8, 2025 · 22:43

Ready To Party

The Super Bowl is tomorrow, my beloved Chiefs are in it for the fourth time in six years, and trying for the first “three-peat” in NFL history. We’ll be having a party, as we’ve done the last several years.

The cleaning crew has gone through, furniture has been re-arranged, the banners are up, the Chiefs memorabelia and sacred icons are all on display.

The dining room tables will be covered with BBQ (imported from the legendary Joe’s BBQ in Kansas City), a salad bar, and the appropriate side dishes for a BBQ tailgate in the finest Arrowhead traditional style.

So many appetizers – nuts, fudge, cookies, vegys, fruit, pretzels, chips, shrimp, etc. So many desserts – cake, pie, ice cream, etc.

The kitchen fridge is stocked to overflowing with food.

The porch fridge & freezer is stuffed with sodas, beer, wine, water, and fudge. Let’s hope that the raccoons haven’t figured out how to open it up!

It should be an excellent game tomorrow. Enjoy it wherever you’re watching!

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Filed under Castle Willett, Critters, KC Chiefs, Photography

February 7, 2025 · 22:56

Returning Light

There were a bunch of weeks there in December and January where, if I was leaving the office about 17:45 and driving home, it was already pitch dark outside.

Yeah, I know what causes it, that whole “seasons,” and “axial tilt,” and “winter solstice” thing. Just sayin’, it was noticeably dark, early.

Tonight, leaving at 17:40 and driving west homeward, it really was noticeable that the sun was setting through the broken clouds, right in my eyes. The cyclic nature of that “axial tilt” thing had carried us past the solstice and we’re well on our way to the equinox next month.

The weather looks okay for the weekend, which will be nice for our Superb Owl party on Sunday, but there’s a lot more rain expected next week.

Good, we need it. I don’t want to get into another drought.

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Filed under Astronomy, Critters, Photography, Sunsets, Weather

February 6, 2025 · 22:58

Massive Props

And there’s two more on the other side!

I haven’t had any good plane pictures for a while (probably in part because I haven’t been out to the CAF hangar in quite a while) so I dug into the way-back machine to Fifi’s visit to CAF SoCal ten years ago. One of only two airworthy B-29’s left from WW2 (at the time it was the only one), she’s an astonishing aircraft to see up close, to walk through, and to fly. If you get the chance (she’ll be touring again this summer), go see her! Maybe even take a ride!

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Filed under CAF, Critters, Photography