what's up?

i gotta go

one of the many things i hate about this old place we live in, is that there is only one bathroom. my sister-in-law just got in for a shower. i just woke up. i gotta pee something fierce. lol. not thinking about it while i type here. the sound of that running water tho...

one of the many things i like about this old chevy is that tattered old window shade. this looks like they just pulled it out of some grandpa's garage after fifty years. i like that it has dents and crusty windows, aged with perfection.

i'd be worried about the suitcase flying off on the freeway, but i'm sure that bracket is holding firmly against that back skirt--it ain't going anywhere.

and neither am i. staying in whittier for fourth of july, though there is a perfectly good fireworks show fairly close to my place in the oc. better half is here, the only reason i am too.

...gotta go...the shower just stopped...

best in show

i've read that this little red packard won best in show the other day.

i took several pictures early in the day and one later in the afternoon. i liked the early morning shots better. i just couldn't decide if i liked this side or the the other, showing the spare wheel.

strange thing i noticed in the other shot, was that each hub cap is from a different type of packard. i suppose it's difficult to find a complete set for the same type and year. so as long as it says 'packard' all is good.

i liked the reflections on the door; this side a deluxe; on the other side, a special deluxe.

bought a boiled egg early this morning, out foraging for bfast at five am. turned out it was a dud of a sort. the shell didn't want to come off in one piece; the membrane underneath didn't either. by the time i got back to my desk, it had what looked like the lunar surface, but in white.

then the yolk inside, wasn't light colored and fluffy, but deep golden yellow and not quite fully cooked.

so, does that mean they didn't cook it long enough, too long, or was the egg too fresh or too old? i'm still alive to note this late in the afternoon, so i guess it wasn't spoiled.

night night

has been a hell of a week at work. too much work, not enough time, slipping deadlines. unwanted overtime. cancelled day off. some people got let go. somebody died.

pretty sure i have to work tomorrow and/or sunday. but first i need to get my oil changed.

meanwhile i'm hanging with my kid's dog, who keeps bringing me stuff to play tug of war, and not letting me type more than a few words at a time. he wants more attention, though i've played with him and walked him all afternoon since i got here. and here he is again.

i'll just post this car up because i like it. not quite full dark, but it is from only a single frame from the camera, since all the exposures of the five i did of it were the same exposure time, so i kicked the pixels a bit to bring it out of the background some.

the escape

i'll put this one up here, tho it's clearly not perfect. sharp up front and focus quickly drops off. busy night, lots of people and cars shuffling through the lot. there's a balancing act of timing and exposure and finding space for a tripod so that it isn't a tripping hazard.

i was almost back to my car here. better half had given up taking pictures because there were just too many people and cars packed in the lot. he was getting nervous as there was no way out, should anything go down. said the cops had already been by three times, and had threatened to have cars towed for blocking entrances, but last had left to get more back up. the fire department had also walked through shakingtheir heads, and left. pretty sure the manager of the big boy had gotten a talking to, and the neighbors behind the wall weren't too happy.

i had parked on the end under the overhang. he'd texted that there was an opportunity to get out right then, or we'd be stuck for hours, and i needed to hurry. finished the shot and was at the car within a minute.

there would have been just enough space for me to back up, but now not enough of an opening to exit without taking out the back corner of an impala. i would have been fine to take more time shooting, but better half was tired. owner of the impala saw that i wanted to leave and offered to take my spot.

oh why hadn't i backed into the spot, as i usually would have; it would have been so much easier. the impala had backed into the empty space that i had intended to back into, so that i could drive out.

instead, everyone was directing me to just back all the way out into the street. fine, on a normal day, i could do it, but there were so many people walking behind me, and i can't see around my better half sitting in the passenger seat.

finally, one of the guys from the oldies car club, who was trying to guide me out offered to do it. by all means, yes and thank you! better half jumps out of the car, to allow for more visibility, i guess, and i got in the back seat.

club guys do know how to move a car, and it was in the street just like that. we had escaped.

there was a line of cars waiting there and around the corner down firestone, trying to get in, so the void was quickly filled.

works for me

better half was with me yesterday morning at pomona. i asked him what settings he was using before the sun came up. been a while since i've shot in the dark, so i forget what i've done before.

he said change the aperture, watch the histogram, adjust the exposure so it's less than thirty seconds. do fewer shots. i listened. then did my own thing anyway. it aggravates him to no end sometimes, but i do ok anyway.

black car under a dark sky. this one was off on it's own, and the owners were already off shopping in the swapmeet area, i'm guessing. it was cold. not so many cars were driving into the show area this early, so i could stay with my longer exposures. i took my chances with whatever or whoever might walk through the shots, but they would just be blurs.

i did tweak my settings a little bit, but not as much as i could have. i still got something usable out of it, i think.

spritzed

1937 chevrolet

beauty from the veteranos show at the elks lodge.

i've been dealing with issues over the weekend, related to the repair work done on my car, due to being hit by another car. the car looks great--can't even tell it was dented at all. check engine light stayed on all weekend, the alarm would randomly go off, and cause the door to repeatedly try to lock while i was driving.

so i have reset the alarm multiple times, and it still acts possessed, so i've had to turn it off until i can get to the place that installed it years ago, to see if they can figure it out. kinda doubting the repair place can figure it out.

then this morning, halfway to the office, a three digit maintenance code pops up as well. really coincidental, right? so i took it to the dealership near the office, to check it out. why do they charge sixty-five bucks to plug a code reader in to tell them what the trouble is? that part should just be free, since they ream you with labor costs, right?

so they tell me, check engine light is for the o2 sensor going bad, and the maintenance code is oil change, tire rotation, some other expensive thing that isn't critical right now, and oh, the starter is going bad. coincidence? karma? probably had a fortune cookie that generically predicted this would happen.

catch the shuttle back to the office, and spend the next six hours bouncing between projects. boss is out of the office, and several coworkers are travelling, so it was quiet, and i got a lot done, and still more assigned to me.

about three in the afternoon, i get the call that my car is ready, and the driver is on his way to pick me up. i'm the only passenger this afternoon, so i got to sit up front for the short drive back.

anyway, after throwing down a dozen benjamens, my car is running good, but will still need that non-critical part replacement next time. i think i'll skip xmas this year. well, i pretty much skip xmas every year lately.

after getting the car, i drove out to check on my kid's dog. after the weekend being sick, finally got him to start eating, and acting a little like himself in short bursts of energy.

drove him out to my mom's house for a visit, and because he likes hanging his head out the window, the wind whipping his ears around. kid and his wifey were to stop and pick him up from there, on their way home.

while we were waiting, i took him to the park around the corner, where dog owners in the hood go to let their beasts run freely on the field.at least until some local buttwad narked to animal control about them being off leash. i think once that group figures out which homeowner reported them, they might find some "little suprises" on their doorstep.

anyway, the kid's dog is either pretty shy around other dogs, or he wants to be chased, depends on the dog or the number of dogs around. this time, i think there was about six, three larger than him, three small yappy dogs. a couple of dogs come over to check him out.

he's still not one hundred percent, and he's busy taking care of business. then i'm busy picking up what i can of his business. i see from the corner of my eye, that one of the small dogs is quite near to me, and sniffing where my dog has just been.

what i didn't notice until i started toward the trash can with the evidence, was that the little shit had pissed on my pant leg, and i didn't notice the warm wetness until the material rubbed across my ankle. ewwww. warm trickle into my shoe. blue jeans take the longest time to dry. why me?

and the best part was that several of the other owners had watched silently as the dog did it. claimed they weren't sure that it was doing what it was doing until it was too late anyway. once i realized, they all started to laugh and joked that i had been chosen, or that i was his now.

too late, and i was done for the day, so i laughed along. pants are washable, and so am i. just got all cold and gross after a bit, until i could get home. so that basically summed up my day.

once, twice

1937 chevrolet

i vacillated about leaving the house today. i had missed shows yesterday, and i just really wanted to shoot some pictures.

so finally i headed out about nine. thought maybe some cars would show up early at the legg lake end of summer show, which seemed to be a somewhat impromptu get together. didn't really seem to be sponsored by any particular club.

got there pretty quickly, only to find nothing. i mean, the cars there were just regular cars, owned by people walking the lake or whatever you do at a park that early.

i pulled up to the booth to inquire about a car show. lady pulled out her clipboard, which listed two birthday parties and some other event not involving classic cars.

so i turned around, she wouldn't let me pull through and come back out again. didn't trust me, wanted her six dollar entry fee.

was kinda bummed, but knew for sure the cadillac fest was setting up in the city of industry. drove over there and parked on the street nearby. sat for a few minutes, enjoying the air conditioning. watched a couple of caddies cruise by. they were the newer models, post seventies, not what i really wanted.

decided to drive past the lot to see what was there, spying other parking spots for me if i wanted to stay.

i saw only a few classics that i'd bother with, a few with hoods already up. i hadn't eaten breakfast and it was already hot out, so decided to bail.

after breakfast, headed back home.

my phone reminder about the legg lake show went off at noon. by one i had decided to go back, though i really wasn't feeling it. i really can't handle the heat, and don't particularly like the harsh shadows of midday in my pictures.

i went anyway. drove by on the freeway, so i could see into the park, to be sure there were cars there this time. there was, so took the next exit.

parked under a tree, in the next parking lot, in the shade. pulled my gear and headed over. there was a row of cars already, so i just started at the closest car.

halfway down, was already feeling the heat. realized i forgot the sunscreen, and was baking to a nice red glow while simultaneously having a hot flash. such fun.

i'd left my water back in the car, and considered buying or bumming a bottle from someone i knew there. decided to wait out the hot flash, keep going, then turn around and head to the car. i did end up skipping a lot if cars.

got back to the car, the water and the air conditioning. saw more cars and cycles arriving, but that was ok. there are always other shows...

----

i liked many of the shots i took, so i closed my eyes and randomly picked one to put up. lots of beautiful bombs out today. glad i noticed the post about the show.

a little sunshine

1937 chevy

so i've spent a lovely week hanging out at a courthouse, doing my civic duty. don't know how that happened, as they usually look for the most ignorant jurors possible. they didn't even ask me any questions, and i had no other excuses to be unable to serve.

love how all the jurors of a certain ethnic group, with only one exception, pulled the i don't speak english very well or acted like they completely didn't speak english at all. i call bullshit, but i guess if i was the one sitting next to the lawyer at the table, i wouldn't want them on the jury either.

i won't bore you with details, but it was an interesting experience. i got to use my best assortment of bitch faces sitting in the jury box, glaring at both lawyers, and so they could not guess which way i might be leaning for or against the defendant.

freaking freezing in the courtroom and deliberation room. was great if i had climbed the stairs or had a hot flash. otherwise, had to remember to bring a sweater.

back to work and a more normal schedule to whine about, and freeways to sit in a slow roll upon, and think up topics i might posit here.

caught this pistoleros car at the viejitos summer show in anaheim a couple of weeks back. its not finished, and i am making the assumption that they will eventually paint this car. but even if they decide they like the primer look, though i cannot understand it, you can see the beautiful lines of the car. the small details you'll never find on today's cars.

i liked how they dropped it to the ground under this tree, perhaps in anticipation of shade later when the sun got to doing it's thing in the sky, but at this time of morning, there's just that kiss of sun on the back end, through the trees out of the frame.

maybe that isn't something that you get worked up over, and sometimes random shadows on cars bug the hell out of me, but here i like it, and that it is hitting the skirt that doesn't match the rest of it. stupid, but that's how it was, and i liked it at the time.

for life

1937 dodge1937 dodge1937 dodge hood ornamentgot my better half up and out of bed by six yesteday. he really had wanted to go to ruby's on friday night, but after a second evening with a two and a half hour drive home from work, i was just not in the mood for it anymore. traffic sucks, and surface streets didn't help much either gotta make a deal with the boss, so i can just work from home on friday afternoons, at least.

my point being, he had gotten his shit together, and rigged up his little screen and rollie rig, and had been ready to go the night before, so it wasn't too difficult to get packed up early on saturday to go to the show over at la mirada rec center, by city hall. he had been hoping to shoot some video at rubys, and was going to give it a try at this duke's show, since i told him it was on pavement.

it's fairly nearby, so we were there about six-thirty. i'd gone the year before, so already knew where i wanted to park. couldn't see anything going on, so we left our stuff in the car and walked over to see if anyone was there. it was a relay for life event, so i expected to see more people, but i guess all of those volunteers were inside, near the pool.

we did see a line of dukes cars sitting there, so went back and got our gear.

last year, it rained off and on, and was in the other parking lot. this year was overcast, cool, and in the bigger lot. they roped off an area that i heard held about two-hundred and ninety spaces. i think by the time we left for lunch, there was maybe half that of the show cars, but the majority were the kind we like.

i haven't been out shooting much, so it was nice to have a perfect day for shooting, without the sun and heat. i always remark how tired i am all week, sitting on my ass at a computer, but give me a car show, and i can spend a good six hours walking around, crouching up and down, and be happy as can be. don't even feel too sore after, though my ankles to get a bit stiff if i sit too long, but that probably has more to do with my shoes than anything else. and it really tells me i need to get off my ass and move more often, and burn off some of this gut that seems to be sticking to me, the older i get.

anyway, it was a well organized show, and quite a few guys came over to chat with me. all very nice people. it was really good to see lots of clubs interacting, though there were a one or two, whose members just sat in a huddle watching, and frowning, and i guess, hanging tough. i'm sure i gave back my best resting bitch face, which is apparently my default look anyway. i think i didn't bother with their cars, hood was up and the other, nah, i just didn't need their pop up in the shot.

talked to a guy who told me a long story about how this dodge used to be his car, but events in his life forced him to sell it. at least he sold it to someone he knew very well, a guy he helped to raise, i think he said, so he knew it was in good hands. still, it must hurt a little to be so near, yet so far from something you loved.

it's a nice car. seen it before, and it's probably up here somewhere else, if i bother to look.

wasn't a whole lot available food wise this year, so since we hadn't eaten breakfast, called it a day around twelve-thirty, before our headaches got too unbearable...

chatty kathy

1937 plymouth

made it out to the los angeles bombs' car show at the speed zone on friday. good thing we got there early...parking was hard to come by later on in the evening.

good thing we got a lot of shots in before too many people showed up. the more crowded it got, the more time it took to shoot between the crowds of people, or the people that don't notice and walk between the camera and the car. it happens. have to go zen, or just count to ten, before giving up and moving on to another car.

i was shooting this plymouth soon after we arrived. then the owner and his friend came over, the friend saying my name. he had remembered me from the unidos show the previous year—they had both chatted me up there. i remembered him instantly, when he mentioned the high school—i'd taken a picture of the friend's car.

spent a long time talking with them again. learned about a couple of car shows coming up, that the friend's son had somehow broken a braket on his car with a garage door, so didn't have it at the show. talked photography, of course, and all sorts of other things. a really rambling convo, but fun and interesting.

better half happened to walk up about that time and joined in. the more the merrier.

told the plymouth owner i'd post a shot of his car, if i got one i liked. problem with the earlier shots was that they both kept walking into the frame, the owner getting stuff from the car, the friend directing the owner on how to turn the wheel just so, so it would look good from the angle i was shooting at that particular moment.

i did manage to get a shot or two without them in it, but i like this one from later, when they were no where in sight. it's all good. i just have to chuckle sometimes.

if laughter is the best medicine, then my better half and myself are the healthiest people around.