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One of the more humorous aspects of evolving media is how people keep finding interesting ways to play practical jokes or to just pass along out of band messages in forums never intended for the purpose. I get a kick out of some of the oddball stuff people pass on from eBay, CraigsList and the like.
Jon Weisman passed along this advertisement posted on CraigsList a few days ago:
All of my other avenues for finding a good manager for my team have been exhausted, so I'm turning to Craigslist. Over the past few months, our organization has gone through some small turnover (our General Manager had to let go of our manager for gross incompetence, and then we had to dismiss our General Manager at the advice of my favorite newspaper columnist). There's an opportunity for you to be our next team manager, but only if you're willing to take the job. The past few people that we've looked at have all either declined to be interviewed, or have taken a job with a different team.
Before you respond to this ad, there are a few things you should know about our team, and a few requirements for you to get the position.
First and foremost: your actual baseball skills can be subpar, but you must, must, must absolutely be able to be a media darling. If you cannot be interviewed by the paper, radio, and tv every single day, regardless of whether we win or lose, then don't bother applying.
Second: you may or may not have some knowledge of statistics, but we will absolutely not allow you to use a computer to help with your work. Baseball is primarily about people, and about the amount of heart and soul they can put into their work. Using statistics can only cloud your judgement about the actual baseball skills of your players.
Read the whole thing, it's a nice commentary on the current state of the Dodgers.
Jon is going to love this! [via TWC]
Several years back there was another take off (using stop frame animation) that got him hooked on the song. This treatment ought to tickle his funny bone too.
Once I hit a certain age (twelve or so?), birthday celebrations just lost that zip. Most years, I really don't care. Certainly there are high points. I remember some odd bits about my 16th because I wound up outside in the rain in my moms car thinking that I only had a year to go before I could drive (I was so sick of riding a bike everywhere). I had a wonderful date with a beautiful coed on my 18th (we could finally go dancing because I was legal in Florida). My wife made my 40th pretty special by setting up a surprise party.
Yesterday is now on the really short list because I got the best present ever, the car.
We'd discussed the possibility back in October, but it didn't seem likely. And by early November it was looking like Thanksgiving was the target date.
All that changed last Thursday when I learned the car was due this week. Figuring it could be any time, I took off Thursday and Friday, just to cover it. The car was basically ready on Wednesday but I went over early Thursday afternoon to pick it up. I guess I should have made the appointment earlier. The place was a madhouse and we managed to mangle the paperwork twice (it's pretty funny in retrospect, but I'm darned glad I had my Treo with me so I could catch up on news and otherwise entertain myself). It was just past 4:30 when we finished with the paperwork, dry run stuff sitting in the car and then I was on my own.
I pulled out of the spot, and promptly turned the wrong way. Figuring I could drive my way out, I eventually wound up in a row of vehicles (with one parked smack dab in the middle of the row) where I didn't think I could squeeze past any more. So now, I'm in the new car, in a tight row of new trucks and I am backing up to get to some place where I can turn around. It was a bit nerve fraying (my second attempt in the car to judge the gas/clutch ratio is going backwards in a sea of expensive cars? I could have done without that) but I managed it and eventually got out of the lot.
At this point, the sun had arrived at that nasty declination designed for blindness and I was headed west on Ventura Boulevard. Rather than go the usual way (right on Topanga, left on Burbank -- where I know what I'm doing), I followed some advice that's probably pretty good, but left me dazed and confused (and a bit blinded while trying to get a feel for the way the world looks). I stumbled around a bit and found that "it's just after you go under the freeway" was slang for go 0.8 miles and several traffic lights past the freeway overpass. Feh! Anyway, I learned a new way onto the freeway (should I ever need it).
The drive back was uneventful. Freeway, rush hour, new car, brutal sun (no hat)... drive kinda pokey and don't kill anything. Once I got back into town my spirits lifted and I remembered that I'd told Tom I'd come by and show him the car. The ride up Erbes (over Sunset and back down to Olsen) was less bright and a heck of a lot more fun. Tom and I chatted for a bit and then we took a short ride around the northwest areas of the town. I promised him we'd do a canyon run soon and then headed for home.
Once home, I had to do a quick run for Sarah and Jon (until he was so cold in the back that we had to stop at Sunset, put the roof up and come back). I took Stephen out next and we took a pretty good tour of the city. West to Lynn (and Olsen), onto the 23 south and home. Along the way I got to do something fun that he got a kick out of. With no one in front of me as we took the freeway entrance from Olsen, I punched it in second as we hit the corner and took it to about 5,000 up the grade, hopped to third and did the same thing and then into fourth, hitting uhh, freeway speed plus, backed off a bit and merged. Just before the top of the grade at Sunset, I dropped it into fifth and coasted the rest of the way.
Today was mostly about running around until Jon got home from school. The first words out his mouth were "I'm ready Dad, let's go!", which we did. He and I took a very nice winding tour, going down Kanan Road to PCH, for a nice western stretch. We came back via Los Posas Road, Heuneme Road and Potrero Road (the later having several tight turns in the canyons). It was a nice ride and he enjoyed it but next time I make sure he has a hat on. I'd had him bring a jacket but with the Santa Ana's (we could see the smoke smudge from the Ventura fire pretty well as we came up Los Posas) he didn't need the jacket. He did need a hat.
I guess I'll go looking for somewhere nice to do a photo tomorrow. The pictures at the dealer have some wacky color thing going on (in the shadows with a bright sun behind them) that do nothing for the car. At worst, I'll get a picture in the driveway (or ski slope as Kurt would put it).
Update: Before I had a chance to post, Sarah wanted to go out for a drive of her own. While getting onto the freeway at Westlake, she yelped a bit as we hit hit freeway speed in third, I just laughed. I also pushed to make sure she got to do the ramp off of Olsen. Finally, as we turned onto Erbes a few blocks from home, Sarah ran it up real quick just to show she could (she'd made a remark earlier today about boys being boys when I'd done it). Backing up the driveway (which I do as a standard matter after several years practice) was a pain but everything else went well.
I've been heads down this week trying to get on top of a boatload of issues at work and wrapping up the details for the new car. Somewhere in the midst of all this, Arnold decided that last weeks setbacks on spending controls required a change of direction and floated the idea of a $50,000,000,000 bond measure in a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" kind of response.
TWC gloats (for assuming the worst) and I just don't get it.
I know we love bond measures, but this just seems sick. We've got one of the worst credit ratings in the country and the last thing we need to be do is go begging for more. Of course, we'll plan to pay for it with another few cent fees here and there and maybe we'll even bump taxes. For 30 years.
Does the legislature actually do anything anymore? It's a sad day when I'm beginning to think that moving back to New Jersey might not be a bad idea (comparatively speaking).
So darned many people here. Good grief.
I was reminded of a conversation I had last week about the size and complexity of Los Angeles by Tale of Lesser Los Angeles and the conversation which started it, Psst, 411: Valley Seccession Didn't Pass.
Time for some basic research. It's interesting that Kevin pegs the population of the Valley at 1.3 million or so, assuming 40% of LA's population lives there. Based on recent numbers, we're talking about nearly 1.6 million folks.
I had some interesting misconceptions too. I pegged the city population at about 5 million and the county at 7 million. Even though I knew the state was at 36 million, I figured the SoCal coastal area was around 10 million. Those numbers are just a little outside (why isn't Uecker's wonderful quote listed somewhere?) More realistic estimates for city and county are 4 million and 10 million. The city of LA is enormous, but it skips many populous areas.
Digging around led me to the Wikipedia entry for Los Angeles, California and an interesting image (I've probably got the master for this somewhere as a 60 Meg TIFF) Los Angeles urban sprawl, which claims to represent 15 million people (the article claims 16 million). That has to be wrong, doesn't it?
Based on information from the US Census Bureau and the easiest to find breakdown of California by County, we get the starting numbers below. The 2005 estimates are based on 7% growth, which sometimes exceeds the 2004 numbers I have found and sometimes trails them. Seemed like a good fudge factor for now.
| County | 2000 | 2005 est |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 9,519,338 | 10,185,691 |
| Orange | 2,846,289 | 3,045,529 |
| Riverside | 1,545,387 | 1,653,564 |
| San Bernardino | 1,709,434 | 1,829,094 |
| Ventura | 753,197 | 805,920 |
| Total | 17,519,798 |
The numbers set me back for a bit. They're really close. Given that parts of Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura are lopped off the map, 15 million is a darned good guess and 16 million seems like it's on the way. That set me to thinking, what about the mythical San Angeles (the Santa Barbara to San Diego megalopolis)? Here are some modern numbers.
| County | 2000 | 2005 est |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 9,519,338 | 10,185,691 |
| Orange | 2,846,289 | 3,045,529 |
| Riverside | 1,545,387 | 1,653,564 |
| San Bernardino | 1,709,434 | 1,829,094 |
| San Diego | 2,813,833 | 3,010,801 |
| Santa Barbara | 399,347 | 427,301 |
| Ventura | 753,197 | 805,920 |
| Total | 20,957,900 |
21 million people living and and working in coastal Southern California. Amazing. Shocking actually.
Today was the day that I'd planned to go see the new Fry's in Oxnard which opened a couple weeks ago. Last Sunday evening as I was preparing to depart for Atlanta I found out about the opening of the Apple store in the Oaks Mall, so that was added to the list.
And then this morning while catching up on various neglected feeds, L.A. Observed called out something that caught my eye, a brewhaha about hidden Hummers caused by a local blogger (an engineer in his mid forties, I swear it's a disease). One more item for the list.
I wasn't too surprised by the discovery, there's a Ford dealer in Pasadena who has been keeping more than a hundred vehicles on a dirt lot owned by SCE located next to our building. There used to be a Utility Man Rodeo there each year, I've been wondering where that might have relocated to. I guess I'll need to take some more pictures.
I started with the local Hummer dealership on Auto Mall Drive (or Duesenberg Drive as the locals and street signs still call it). We have pictures. I was surprised to note so few Hummers on the lot (I think I saw six, one of which was an '04). Then I wandered off to the Westlake Hyatt (a nice hotel, my aunts usually stay there when they come to town and we've been there for several events over the years) to see what I'd never noticed before.
Yep, sure enough. The eastern corner of the Townsgate Road complex was filled Hummers and there was a long line of them just south of the 101 freeway. It's interesting that the satellite image shows no cars, I don't think the Google satellite data is very old either. While wandering around, I noticed something that seemed out of place and wandered over to check it out. The local Infiniti dealer is also using this space. After taking a few pictures, I started seeing this batch of cars in baggies in an odd light (colored no doubt by the goofy movie I watched on the plane back from Atlanta yesterday, The Island — an overly long Twilight Zone episode with lotsa stuff that blows up).
Before leaving, I wandered a bit down the line of Hummers and found my favorite. How long does a vehicle need to sit in a lot before someone scrawls "Dead Battery" on the windshield? I'm guessing quite some time.
When I was talking about it this evening with the kids, Adam mentioned that they used to keep a whole bunch of Hummers on the top level of the parking garage at the Janss Marketplace.
The new Fry's in Oxnard was quite a shock. It's quite well lit, has a good layout and the aroma of fresh coffee seems to be everywhere.
It's been quite a while since I've been to any of the Fry's stores here in SoCal except for the one in Burbank, and that one has seemed dark and disorganized from the day it opened (or shortly afterward when I dropped by). I've only been to the Manhattan Beach store twice, as it opened after we moved away from the South Bay. It's also been quite a long time since I've been to the Woodland Hills location, preferring to defer the whole thing until I can find a way to drop into Burbank. Driving down to Oxnard is not only closer, but a heck of a lot less stressing. Besides, the Conejo Grade is always a great view (and often fun to drive, assuming some maneuvering room).
The new place in Oxnard has a lot of room, and actually cannibalizes some of the room in the middle of the store to create a coffee bar. It's a nice touch. I was tempted to wander in and overspend on a cup of coffee a couple times.
There were some other surprises.
Yes, it's an Apple store but it the dinkiest I've ever been in. Unlike every other corporate store I've seen thus far, it's too small to have a training area. It's small enough that there is only a tiny area in the back set aside to hawk non Apple products. On the plus side, it has a genius bar.
I guess Apple was desperate to have a physical location in this upscale burb that can draw customers from Simi Valley, Agoura and Camarillo and settled for less than ideal dimensions to get it. I think they could have done better, but it's nice to have a store only minutes away.
