Good Day for Music

I was going to call this post "Catching Up," but when it auto-filled after "Ca," I decided to try a bit harder. There's been a lot going on lately, but it's been a challenge to keep on blogging. 

Yesterday was indeed a good day for music in the Styffe household. As soon as I arrived home from work, I made sure John was cleaned up and dressed, had his trumpet so we could head over to the Fullerton Downtown Plaza for opening performance of the Ladera Vista Junior High Jazz Band. John has been playing trumpet for 2-1/2 years in the Fullerton Elementary School band and now at LV under the direction of Mr. Hastings. To be honest, the 5th and 6th grade concerts were kinda rough, and without a strong measure of parental pride, would have been difficult listening.

But these kids rocked last night! It is heartbreaking to think that school music programs like this throughout the state will be shut down due to the budget crisis.

The Ladera Vista Jazz Band

John (far right)

But wait, there's more!

Last night at our regular Thursday choir rehersal at church, we were continuing our work for the Easter cantata to be presented on Palm Sunday morning April 5. Our director Mitch Hanlon, asked daughter Emily to take a solo part. The first run-through left us all slack-jawed. Can't wait to hear it in further rehersals and performance.

In the Oh-by-the-way Department, we added to our growing collection of grandchildren last month on 2/10/09 when Melissa gave birth to Aurora Anne Schweitzer. 

Aurora Anne with her Auntie Em

The Year in Review

Last year around this time, a fellow blogger posted his 10-favorite images of 2007 and challenged others in Observation Car, a discussion list of railroad art and literature, to do the same. So I did, but have since grown tired of the crabby atmosphere which permeates much of the discussion on that list. But it was a good exercise and I noticed a rather disturing thread in my selection. Seven of the 10 images were made right here in Fullerton, and I thought, "I need to get out more often." I also challenged myself to get more work published.

I'm happy to say that I successfully met those challenges. Here are 10 of my favorites from this year. Well, the first six months of the year. It seems that images 1–9 were all made prior to June 30, 2008! There's a good reason for that…the house! Construction in earnest began June 3, and I pretty much shut down the creative photography efforts for the next five months, shooting only progress images of the house construction, family events and assignments at work. But looking back, I feel pretty good about the images I made from January to the end of June.

Full Eclipse of the Moon, February 20, 2008. It had rained all day, and I had little hope of seeing the moon or its eclipse through the clouds. However, the sky began to clear just as the moon was rising, and I managed to catch the passage of Metrolink 608 approaching the platform in Fullerton right at the beginning of the eclipse's totality.

This image got published alright. As a two page spread in Locomotive 2008! It was used to lead an article on BNSF merchandise trains that run over the San Jacinto Industrial Lead to March Field. Many of those ObsCar guys would write this image off as a "crappy weather" shot, but in my opinion, the early morning low clouds hovering over the University Park area of Riverside, California give this image of the MBARJAC1-23 an edge it wouldn't have otherwise on February 23, 2008

Shot through a chain link fence in crappy weather. Enough to make heads explode on that list. This image hasn't been published, but it did win a Bronze award in the photography contest sponsored by the Center for Railway Photography and Art which was themed "A Sense of Place." I think this image certainly communicates a sense of the place which is the Alondra Blvd. crossing of the BNSF in La Mirada, Calif., on March 1, 2008.

A fan trip on the Sierra Railroad, March 9, 2008, found the California foothills green and the weather more than pleasant. The last photo runby of the day found nearly everyone lined up on a grassy hillside. Looking for something different, I headed for a nearby almond orchard where the backlit blossoms and steam went "electric" for me.

This is another image used in the article published in Locomotive 2008. The MJACBAR1-21 eases around a curve and down the 2.2% grade as it exits Sycamore Canyon in Riverside, Calif., on March 21, 2008.

Union Pacific train MWCDA (West Colton to Dallas Merchandise) rolls along side the Salton Sea on the former Southern Pacific "Sunset Route" on March 28, 2008.

Metrolink trains rest at the San Bernardino station on a Saturday morning, April 12, 2008.

Santa Fe steam locomotive, 3751 pulls a special train along the Pacific Ocean, under the historic Highway 101 overpass in Del Mar, Calif., on June 1, 2008. This turned out to be the very first image I had published in Trains magazine.

Ryan Humphrey and his son Max enjoy the passing of a BNSF freight as it rolls through Fullerton, Calif., on June 27, 2008.

My wife Amy and I relax inside our newly remodeled home on December 19, 2008. I can start thinking about doing photography again!

More Progress

The project hit a bit of a snag recently, when the city's engineering department raised an issue with the prefabricated roof trusses that had been used. As I understand it, the trusses were manufactured to the version of the California State Uniform Building Code which took effect on January 1, 2008, while the city expected them to be built to the previously used code which was in effect when the project was designed and approved. This resulted in a three week delay while the project's engineer of record, the truss manufacturer's engineers and the city's engineers went back and forth just to be sure that the place wouldn't come down on our heads during the next great earthquake. The guy who was installing the air conditioning ductwork in the attic when a 5.4 maginitude quake struck on July 29, could have settled the matter by telling them what he told me, "It was quite a ride, but this place moved as a solid unit, no creaking, rattling…nothing!" That's good enough for me. The entire matter is close to resolution though. The project's engineer has certified that the truss calculations are good, and submitted a letter which has been forwarded to the city's engineering department. Perhaps simply sending an envelope full of $100 bills would have been more efficient!

With that issue out of the way now, insulation, roofing, drywalling and stuccoing can commence. The kitchen cabinets are on hand, volunteers have been lined up to help with the painting, the floor material has been purchased and things are ready to move at a brisk pace shortly.

The Latest Slideshow

What's Not Happening

"So what's been happening with the house project," people ask. In short, NOTHING! Only a couple of days before the building permits were supposed to be ready, the City of Fullerton's Planning Department raised an issue that should have been raised during the first plan check last November.

It seems that the house design was over the size limit imposed by the small size of the property by 124 square feet. We were told that we could handle this with a Minor Site Plan adjustment, so we turned in our application for such and settled in for a one-month wait until the Planning Department staff meeting on March 20. When we showed up for the meeting, the staff seemed unaware of status of our project and consequently we were not on the agenda. We later learned that they had decided that a full zoning variance would be required and that the city's Planning Commission would next meet on April 23!

So here we sit.

Catching Up

Working on the blog has taken a back seat recently to a number of things, mainly the home remodeling project which has gotten stalled by the City of Fullerton's bureaucracy, AKA the city's planning department. But more about that later…maybe.

On February 20, we were treated to a full eclipse of the moon. The moon is one of my favorite photographic subjects and this event allows moon photography at its most spectacular.

The eclipse was scheduled to begin at 5:45 pm local time and achive totality at 7:01. The area had been under cloud cover the entire day and I thought there would be only a slim chance of observing the event. Around 6:10, I was ready to give up and head for home. As I was driving along Walnut Ave. in Fullerton, I saw the illuminated outline of some clouds in the rear view mirror. I stopped the car, got my gear out and soon the moon rose out of the cloud bank to the east. The rest of the sky was clearing.

For nearly an hour, I watched the shadowed portion of the moon increase as it rose in the sky. Metrolink commuter trains came and went as I composed and re-composed to accomodate the changing relationship of signal bridge and moon.

At 7:01, Metrolink 688 rolled by on it's way to a 7:04 stop. The red ghost of the moon stood out in the sky with the near 1 second exposure .

And in case you're wondering, I didn't use Photoshop to enlarge or reposition the moon.

Moving

We'll be moving over the next few weeks. This past weekend, Amy and I found a suitable apartment to live in during the home remodeling which could begin on February 4, provided the permit process goes smoothly. Our temporary digs will be located five blocks west of downtown Fullerton, meaning that we'll be able to walk to church, the train depot and the library.

It also means that the Unauthorized Observer will have tunnel vision for a few weeks, while we get ourselves situated.

The Weather

Storm damage in Fullerton

We were all on "Storm Panic 2008" here in Southern California this weekend. A genuinely nasty storm swept down the coast and hammered the northern and central portions of the state with 100 mph winds, driving rain and heavy snow in the Sierra. But like anything (or anybody) that comes our way, it mellowed out considerably once it arrived. Last night there was some wind and some rain, but nothing of Biblical proportions. As you can see from this photo of my knucklehead neighbor's "compound" across the street, we lost a few palm fronds, but were otherwise unscathed.

Perhaps it was in 1982 that SoCal weather became a joke when KNBC hired stand-up comic, Fritz Coleman as an on-camera weather personality. Or it might have been 10 years earlier when KABC hired Dr. George Fishbeck to do the weather segments. Dr. George, as he was affectionately called, had a "face made for radio," classic funny nose & glasses, bow tie, wild gesticulations and a schtick that everyone loved. In his defense, he was a genuine meteorologist and introduced the term "marine layer" into the southland vocabulary. But he raised the ante in this town and forevermore, the citizens demanded that the weather be entertaining.

Now, we get our weather from Jackie Johnson who is entertaining only in a salacious sort of way. As one local blogger said, "Do you ever get the feeling that Jackie Johnson is just going to stop mid-sentence and say, 'Hey! My eyes are up here!'" Often while the news is on, I'll hear Amy say from the other room, "What's Jackie wearing?" Usually, all I can say is, "you'll just have to come see."

To be honest, the weather here rarely matters. By everyone else's standards, it's nearly always comfortable. Unless it involves fire.

A Christmas Eve Story

It was exactly two years ago that I went down the local train station to watch the Southwest Chief roll into town. The weather was similar to today's here in SoCal, clear, pleasant, dry … nice, but hardly conducive to generating holiday anticipation. However the sound of the Chief approaching this station could do that. There are four grade crossings spaced out along the the mile to the east: Placentia Ave., State College Blvd., Acacia Ave., and Raymond Ave. The distant notes from the Amtrak K5LA horn that floated across the east side of the city made a pleasant introduction to the train's arrival.

Since it was Christmas Eve, I imagined that some of the people gathered on the platform were there to meet family and friends arriving on the train. That's always a nice thing to watch. For me, trips to the depot have been about people watching as much as train watching. As it turned out the woman standing closest to the tracks was one of those people. She was there to greet her daughter and infant grandson who she was about to see for the first time.

Considering the fact that I had seen my grandson for the first time the previous June, I had a pretty good feeling for what this would be like. I hung

around and observed the moment. 

This Christmas, I wish for you a moment as delightful as this.