I just get tired of it.
UPDATE: I called it in. Here’s the number should you ever need it: 626-744-7622.
Month: September 2007
Feeling Charitable?
Feeling charitable? Or feel like going shopping? Here’s a way to combine both – Community Health Alliance of Pasadena is participating in Macy’s 2007 “Passport-in-Store” Shopping Benefit. Now in its 25th year, this special event has raised more than $25 million for charities that provide services that benefit those with HIV/AIDS.
CHAP is selling special $10 tickets that will entitle you to 20% off all apparel and accessories and 10-15% off all other items (with a few exceptions) on Saturday, September 29. The more CHAP supporters visit the store that day, the greater CHAP’s chances to receive additional funds raised by the event. Ticket holders may also enter a drawing for a spectacular shopping spree. Participating Macy’s stores include Macy’s Beverly Center, Pasadena (Lake Ave.), Sherman Oaks, South Coast Plaza, Fashion Valley/Mission Valley, Palm Desert, Fashion Show Mall Las Vegas. Tickets are available by calling Ellen Johnson at CHAP, (626) 398-6300 ext. 21. Or, leave me a comment and I’ll get a ticket to you.
HIV/AIDS is increasingly a disease of the poor. Funds raised by CHAP will be used to provide primary medical care to low-income, uninsured patients with HIV.
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Also, my church is gathering items for foster youth who will soon be emancipated from Hillsides.
MLK MACC
What is the MLK-Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center (MLK-MACC)? The MLK-MACC is located at the former King-Drew Medical Center. According to LA County’s Department of Health Services website: “Urgent Care (non life threatening) medical services remain open at the hospital from 8:00 a.m. to midnight, 7 days a week. Outpatient clinics also remain open. Call the County’s toll free information line, 211, for more information.”
Why am I blogging about this? Because people keep saying that the hospital is closed, even today’s LA Times article about hospitals’ financial woes. But the facility IS NOT completely closed. Yes, the Emergency Department is closed. Yes, there are no inpatient hospital services.
But there is Urgent Care there, and most Emergency Department administrators will tell you that a fairly large percentage (say around 40%) of patients who end up in an emergency room are there for conditions that could have been handled in an Urgent Care facility.
Yes, the community needs that hospital, and the closure of MLK hospital’s emergency room has already resulted worse medical outcomes for residents of the area. BUT PLEASE, local media, let people know that even though the hospital has been eviscerated, health care is still available at the facility.
I like Facebook. I like it more than MySpace. And though technical acumen is not my forte (how do I get an accent over that “e”?), I’m going to pass on some links for Facebook users that I found courtesy of someone u
—Uh Oh— I’ve tried to “save and continue editing” this post twice after putting in several links, and for some reason it isn’t working. Did we really need to illustrate what I just said?
So just go here and you can read all about Facebook planning to open its files to Google Search, privacy issues, etc. (link courtesy of Susan; her picture illustrates the article).
Golden Gate Bridge
For some reason, the Golden Gate Bridge always makes me think of the song “This Land is Your Land” even though it isn’t mentioned. Perhaps because it is the way to get to the Redwood Forest, or perhaps because it too is part of “this ribbon of highway.” Even the name “Golden Gate Bridge” implies endless possibilities (or proximity to really great Chinese food).
Whoa–they left those last two verses out of my elementary school music book (see below)!
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land is made for you and me.As I go walking this ribbon of highway
I see above me the endless skyway
And all around me the wind keeps saying:
This land is made for you and me.I roam and I ramble and I follow my footsteps
Till I come to the sands of her mineral desert
The mist is lifting and the voice is saying:
This land is made for you and me.Where the wind is blowing I go a strolling
The wheat field waving and the dust a rolling
The fog is lifting and the wind is saying:
This land is made for you and me.Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking my freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land is made for you and me.In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I’d seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?As I went walking, I saw a sign there;
And on the sign there, it said, ‘No Trespassing.’
But on the other side; it didn’t say nothing!
That side was made for you and me.
Make Mine a Mimosa
Plenty of reason to celebrate this afternoon…while sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, my friend Susan discovered that she is mentioned in the current edition of US News & World Report! The article, which is about oral history, quotes her and mentions her fabulous website familyoralhistory.us . The article is here! Check out her site’s Carnival of Genealogy too. Very cool.
Congratulations, Susan!
More Graffiti
On Marengo Avenue, just south of Orange Grove.
Parking at LAX–Lot B
UPDATE 28 April 2008 – Reader Russ suggests that Lot B is not a good place to park.
He writes:
We parked in LOT B for 5 days, April 21 - 25, 2008. Upon returning at 9:30pm on Friday night, we found that our brand new tires had been vandalized along with several other cars in the lot. Security and the lot employees told us that it happens all the time. Their excuse is that the lot is too large to watch 24/7. Thugs walk in and out of there all day. DO NOT PARK HERE!!
Original post follows:
Here’s an easy quiz question for you, blog aficionado. Blogs are for:
(A) Grousing about The General State of Things
(B) Pretty pictures
(C) Revealing the odd workings of one’s mind to the rest of the world
(D) Sharing useful information
(E) All of the above
My experience is your gain, dear reader, for here is an entry that falls under ‘D.’ We rarely park at LAX, but on a recent trip we parked in Lot B. Lot B is operated by the airport, and is a bargain at $8.00 per day. For your $8, you get to park right under incoming aircraft. After 5 days in the lot, our car was dirty from the exhaust, but not as bad as I expected.
The shock was returning to the car to find a parking ticket. Reason for the ticket? Well, I’m not sure because “other” is checked, with $52.00 written in. I asked the lot attendant about it, and she guessed it was because we didn’t have our front license plate on.
The Scout has been reticent to put on the front plate, because if he’s using the car in location photos, the front plate is a “visual distraction.” Which is true, but we are supposed to sport our front license plates nonetheless (he could always take it off for the photos).
So Lot B parker beware—the lot is patrolled by the City of LA looking for easy money. Mind your license plates, your registration stickers, anything that gives pause and cause to eager ticket writers.
Our endeavor to save money in Lot B ended up costing us more than a covered Wally Park spot with AAA discount would have cost. But if I hadn’t gone to Lot B, I wouldn’t have discovered The Proud Bird (I’m a sucker for kitch). I didn’t eat there, and probably won’t– I’m taking this 4/23/07 review to heart. Still, a drink with a view is always a fun thing.
A lot of LAX employees park in Lot B, so the bus had far more employees than fellow travelers.
If anyone else has a Lot B experience, I’d love to hear about it. In the meantime, thank God for Burbank.
Coleman Beach, Sonoma Coast State Park, CA
There are two principles inherent in the very nature of things—the spirit of change, and the spirit of conservation. There can be nothing real without both.
—Alfred North Whitehead
Photo by Tim Down
Rocky Point, California
The Scout is on the job in California, looking for a location on the coast. Yesterday, we drove up the 101 and then Highway 1 to Big Sur. If you’ve ever done this, you know how awe-inspiring it is to see the land fall into the sea in ways both gentle and abrupt.
I call this kind of job “California Wonderland” —driving around our beautiful state and marveling at the diversity, the drought conditions, the dreamy timelessness of it all. Today we drive from Carmel to the Sonoma Coast.
Here’s a photo of Rocky Point, about 10 miles south of Carmel. There’s a restaurant here—avoid the beef, get the fresh fish.
West Coast Grrlie Blather 