Free Electronic Waste Collection Event
(Lifted from the City of Pasadena’s website) – Pasadena residents and businesses will have the opportunity to safely dispose of electronic waste conveniently and free of charge at the city’s Electronic Waste Collection Event on Saturday, Feb. 9, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Parking Lot I of Brookside Park, south of the Rose Bowl, 1001 N. Rose Bowl Dr. Continue reading “E-Waste Roundup in Pasadena”
Category: Pasadena
Aaron Proctor Lives!
To any of you who may be wondering why Aaron Proctor hasn’t posted on his blog lately, it’s because the aliens got bored with Bill and came back for fresh meat.
Just kidding. His computer is on the fritz. He’ll be back on line soon. Ih the meantime, he’s catching up on his DVDs.
Rose Parade 2008 – Part Deux
By far, the crowd I was with gave the biggest cheer for Dodgers float. Major cheers were also given to the Support Vehicles, numbered 1 through 7, the “Plain Janes” of the parade. Can’t they stick a daisy or something on those puppies? The marching band from El Salvador was very well-received too. They didn’t have enough money to fly here, so they rented buses and started their journey on Christmas Day.
When the Dodger float showed, everyone was on their feet yelling and screaming, and someone popped a giant thing of confetti. I was yelling, “VINNIE, VINNIE” like a banshee, which attracted Eric Karros’ attention.
As soon as I actually watch the parade with coverage, I can tell you who the other two people are. Perhaps Takashi Saito on the right, but I’m not sure about the guy in the middle (anyone? anyone?). James Loney was on this side too.
LaSorda in red, and Vinnie in the middle waving.
Unnamed, but important, Dodger luminaries.
Ooohh, here comes my favorite float of ’08.
A new take on the Three Amigos.
A detail view. Overall, one of the best float design ideas in the past decade, and winner of the Extraordinaire Trophy: Most Spectacular (mind you, just about every float wins some award or other).
Some years, the parade seems loooonnnnngggggg. It didn’t this year. This is a sure sign that I’m getting older.
My personal weird parade moment? Standing with my back to “that float” and seeing its shadow pass over the crowd.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems Tournament officials used tow trucks to great effect at the end of this year’s parade. In past years, I remember 3-4 tow trucks at the end, followed by the customary clump of shouty Jesus people. This year, there were ten (or more) tow trucks, honking their loud deafening horns. The Jesus people clump was reduced to smaller, spread out clumplettes. I saw one other protester…a guy with a t-shirt saying something about Tiananmen Square.
RV owners were also recruited drafted to help keep law and order, using their “eyes and ears”:
After the tow trucks, along came this guy:
Another sign of old age? I get a kick out of walking down the middle of Colorado Blvd after the parade.
As soon as the parade was over, street vendors selling brunch showed up:
One of these days, the City of Pasadena and the Tournament of Roses will develop a “Pack it in, Pack it out” campaign for parade goers. Or wise up and send teams of people throughout New Year’s Eve and into the wee hours to gather all the stuff that can be recycled. Until that day…
…the remains of an attempt to carpet Colorado Boulevard.
Boxed meal detritus in front of Pasadena City College.
Not as bad as hanging chads—bags waiting for pick-up.
Some individuals pick through and look for whatever may have been left behind…others take cans and bottles.
Most of the human rights protesters I saw were on Orange Grove, way south of Colorado Boulevard and far from all the tv cameras. One woman that I talked to had come all the way from San Francisco. So from the perspective of the media, a quiet effort. But I’d venture to say that more people are aware of human rights issues in China than were a few months ago.
These things take time.
UPDATE: Flickr photos from January 1, 2008 anti-war, pro-impeachment protest.
Northwest Life
Today I got home from work, and The Scout had prepared dinner (an olive oil stir-fry thing in keeping with his new anti-cholesterol regimen—or regime, as I like to call it) along with a glass of Irony pinot noir. As I was sitting, noshing, and watching Cleveland get five-count-’em-five runs in the 5th inning in Game 1 of the ALDS against the (boo-hiss) Yankees, I heard a grocery cart coming down the street.
Friday is trash pick-up day, and our bins were out on the street ready to be emptied. It’s typical on a Thursday night to hear the sounds of glass and aluminum clanging as someone digs through your recycling bin, along with sounds of laden grocery carts (more jangling) being pushed down the street.
The city frowns on it, but it happens all the time: People come along and take the glass and aluminum out of recycling bins. I don’t particularly mind, though noise in the middle of the night is a bit of a bother. My bin gets picked over multiple times. Once in a while, a bottle will roll down the street, making a sound similar to the sound a rolling bottle makes at the Hollywood Bowl.
I’m not sure exactly how the woman pictured below was planning to get the goods out of my bin, since she’s pretty short and there were lots of newspapers covering up this week’s diet root beer and wine bottle collection. I went out and helped her, digging way down to the bottom. Then I ran back in the house and poured the last glass of Irony so I could give her that bottle too. I asked her to pose with the bottle for me, and she did.
Ten minutes later, a mom pushing a kid in a stroller came along and looked in my bin. When she saw me, she quickly moved on.
Two women—one old, one young—digging through my recycling for their survival. This, too, is Pasadena.
Adam Schiff Hosts Global Warming Discussion
Adam Schiff is hosting a Town Hall meeting on global warming.
Congressman Schiff will be joined by a panel of distinguished guests from the California Institute of Technology to discuss the science behind global warming and efforts in Congress to address the issue.
Beckman Institute Auditorium, Caltech
1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena
October 8, 2007
3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Admission is free and open to the public, however, seating is limited. Please RSVP by calling Congressman Schiff’s District Office at (626) 304-2727.
Water Conservation, Hot Air Conservation
I watched a bit of the Pasadena City Council meeting last night—the part about water conservation. Yes, we’re behind on changing our behavior, and we need to start being careful now. The Council used up about 30 minutes last night stating this obvious fact. A brown lawn should be considered high fashion. Council members could bring in photos of their own brown lawns and see who has the brownest. Or maybe we can make it an intra-district competition.
The Scout practically leaps out of his skin when I tune in to the Council meetings. He starts gesticulating wildly (due to the immediate threat of boredom). “Are we really gonna watch the horseshoe hot-airs wag their jaws tonight? Dancing With the Stars is on!”
It takes a will of steel (or a paycheck) to sit through a City Council meeting. Some council members need to understand that IT IS OKAY to let things move forward without commenting. We don’t think you’re stupid or unaware if you keep your mouth closed once in a while.
City Council-generated hot air is an impediment to public participation. Things get rolling late, meetings drag on, and folks who sign up for public comment give up and go home.
Our own Miss Havisham was apparently traumatized last night (her shell-shocked, oblique comment here–scroll way down).
City Council meetings should be run like a good business meeting. Instead, some of the participants act like their future political careers depend upon their performance. Sadly, this may be true, but even worse–This Takes Up Time. In business, in all of life fergawshsakes, time is a valued commodity. In politics, apparently, it is not.
My thanks to Mr. Howdya Like My New Haircut? for inspiring this post.
West Coast Grrlie Blather 