I came out of the office after work today (yes, I’m still working in-office, training new staff, more new staff coming just before Thanksgiving, so this may last through the end of the year) and found the final “supermoon” of the year rising over my well-decorated vehicle.
Filed under ALS Network, Astronomy, KC Chiefs, Photography
Another deadline hit today. (Payroll – and there was much rejoicing!) Like my favorite NFL team, I’m “winning ugly.” But I’m winning.
Filed under KC Chiefs, Paul, Photography
It would be nice to get back again this year, but that’s unlikely. One trip a year is about all I can get away with.
Enjoy the full-sized file – click on it and blow it up. My son’s truck with the flags is over to the left.
For this weekend, there’s more work, more deadlines (I can sort of see the light at the end of the tunnel? Ish?) and taking down the Halloween decorations.
It’s also getting close to decision time and I know where it’s going, I’m just not happy about it. (Just add it to the list…) I had really hoped to be putting up a ton of Christmas lights at the Forever Home this year and setting the place up to make it easy to put up a ton of lights every year in the future. That’s also very unlikely to happen, so in two weeks it will be time to start decorating here, at the rental house again. I’m also coming up on the end of my current set of weight training lessons, which I was also hoping would be the last one because I would be living elsewhere, but again…
So frustrated. So tired. It’s that whole middle-of-the-marathon feeling and the only way out is through.
One foot in front of the other. You too?
Filed under Christmas Lights, Forever Home, KC Chiefs, Panorama, Photography
Wandering into the kitchen just before 21:00 tonight I looked out of the windows into the back yard and saw the honkin’ huge Moon, orange as a pumpking, rising in the northeast.
It’s a couple of days past full moon, but still really bright, and being so close to the horizon and shining through Los Angeles’ haze and light pollution, it was far, FAR from white.
Further out in the yard the color became more prominent.
I stood out here for a while, the owls hooting in the trees, the orange moon rising, and some occasional fireworks going off in the distance, presumably in celebration of the Dodgers’ win over the Mets that sends them to the World Series against the Yankees next weekend.
If the weekend has to end (and it really SUCKS that it has to!), this (and the Chiefs’ win to put them at 7-0 and the Kings’ win over the Ducks) isn’t a bad way to enjoy it.
Filed under Astronomy, KC Chiefs, Los Angeles, Photography, Sports
With some of the most magnificent modern architecture in the world being on display with our sports stadiums, I’ve heard it said that they are our modern-day cathedrals, the equivalent of Notre Dame in Paris and St. Paul’s in London.
Given the way we worship our sports teams and players, that might be more true on a couple of different levels.
SoFi Stadium is covered with this translucent film to keep everything dry, but it’s open at the ends and sides, so if we really get a storm it might be dry-ish.
Still, it’s gorgeous and geometrically intricate and amazing. That’s a LOT of steel and concrete in very delicate balance, fighting off gravity.
The pillars, the curves of the structure, seemingly defying gravity. A much different vibe than Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Much more sterile and cold.
Hovering up near the top, I couldn’t help but wonder how many calculations were done and what their models and assumptions were regarding earthquakes. The Newport-Inglewood Fault system runs all over this area, from the Newport Beach area up along the coast to the UCLA – Century City area. It’s now believed to be capable of delivering an earthquake in the M7.5 range, which is massive. Aside from all of the other damage that would cause to houses, businesses, utilities, highways, and highrise office buildings, I was wondering where the breaking point is here – in the roof structure or in one of those massive columns?
I don’t want to be anywhere near here if and when we find out. In fact, when that day comes, I wouldn’t complain if I’m in Kansas City or points east.
Filed under Disasters, KC Chiefs, Los Angeles, Photography
SoFi Stadium in Inglewood is where the LA Chargers and the LA Rams play football. Today my beloved Chiefs were playing their division rivals, the Chargers.
It’s a stunningly gorgeous stadium and facility.
We were up in the nosebleed seats, but could still see everything just find, assisted by that GINORMOUS video scoreboard.
My beloved Chiefs did not play particularly well and made way too many mistakes with penalties and turnovers.
Our quarterback, #15 there, is pretty good. Good enough, so we’re 4-0 now. All four wins have been “ugly,” but a win’s a win.
As is usually the case with Chargers games (we’ve gone here, at their previous smaller venue before SoFi opened, and their old home down in San Diego) a huge percentage of their seats get resold to fans of the opposing team. Thus our nickname, “Arrowhead West.”
And since we’re just a couple miles from LAX, we get to watch planes on short final while waiting out in the parking lot for our shuttle bus back to the offsite parking location. This was a British Airways A380, floating up there exactly the same way that bricks don’t.
Filed under KC Chiefs, Photography, Sports
Which is unusual, normally I tend to be a half degree F or so on the cool side.
Whatever.
You may safely assume that I met my absolutely drop dead deadline even if I failed miserably to meet my desired deadlines, I’m upright and taking nourishment, and celebrating the Chiefs’ win bringing them to 3-0 for the season.
*makes that little pop noise with my little finger in my mouth and spins my index finger about in a celebratory manner*
Filed under KC Chiefs, Paul, Photography
Game Day!
I flew in, my son drove, bringing along his fabulous tailgaiting gear and flags.
Several hours of pre-game at Arrowhead Stadium is referred to as “The World’s Greatest Tailgate Party” and it’s a reputation that’s well earned.
There’s a picture posted on here from December, 2018 taken at almost this exact same spot, on a MUCH chillier day. Mid to high 80’s today, well below freezing that day.
Our flyover came from the US Army who sent a selection of helicopters.
The view was great, but there were a LOT of steps to climb to get here.
I was having a really great time. Many of the 76,000+ friends are seen.
We won, 26-25, and are now 2-0 to start the season. Our stupid mistakes made it a much closer game than it should have been.
Uhhh…duh? It’s Arrowhead Stadium, one of the loudest crowds in the world. Of course it was loud!
Filed under KC Chiefs, Photography, Travel
When we set this up three or four months ago, I knew there was a tight window at work to fit it in. If I had known then what I know now, specifically the unexpected things that have happened and made that window soooooooo much tighter, I never would have made plans. But that was then, this is now, and here I was on a plane.
I’ll admit, I spent a good deal of time in the last week thinking about cancelling the trip. And much as with the April trip to Texas to see the eclipse, I’m travelling with my work laptop and a stack of paperwork and files on memory sticks and I’ll be spending way, way more time coding and doing data entry from my hotel room than I might otherwise spend at the WWI Museum, or the Atkins art museum, or at the Negro Leagues Baseball museum, or trolling BBQ places. C’est le vie!
Over Palmdale Airport and the Antelope Valley, looking south toward the mountains and the LA Basin, there’s an unbelievable amount of smoke from multiple huge brush fires that have been burning for days.
Can you see the cargo 747 at the bottom, flying a few thousand feet below us?
Lake Havasu and the Colorado River are an easy landmark to spot.
My office in the sky. I lucked out and our flight was only about 1/3 full, so there was plenty of room to stretch out, get the laptop fired up, and get two hours of work in.
Somewhere over the Oklahoma panhandle or so, some small town was getting pounded. We saw several big thunderhead cells, but this was by far the biggest.
Today was International Observe the Moon Day – DONE! There it is!
I think of windmills for power generation as being more of a Western states thing, more of a mountain pass thing, but there sure were a lot of them out in eastern Colorado and western Kansas! I don’t know if they still call the wind “Mariah,” but they sure call it “Kilowatt!”
Filed under KC Chiefs, Photography, Travel
Too many deadlines, coming at me like freight trains…
It’s also getting windy, so that won’t help the two huge fires burning up in the mountains. Nowhere near us, but up around Big Bear and down in Orange County it’s getting ugly.
Speaking of ugly, I just noticed how the flags are beating the crap out of the paint on the roof of the Volvo. At 13 years and 90,000 miles, that’s the least of that vehicle’s problems.
Filed under KC Chiefs, Photography, Weather
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