Full-Contact Foaming

Most people are aware that railfans are commonly referred to as "foamers." It's considered a pejorative term to describe someone who gets so excited about seeing a train that they foam at the mouth. I'll never refer to myself as a foamer, but when pressed on the matter, I might own up to the possibility of being one. I prefer "railroad photographer."

But last Sunday, I was a foamer. Santa Fe 3751, a steam locomotive built in 1927 (the same year my parents were born) was used to pull an excursion train from Los Angeles to San Diego and back. I carefully calculated the number of times I could catch up with, and photograph, the train. By the time train passed my camera at Torrey Pines, I had managed to catch it in 5 different locations.

This required a small amount of NASCAR-like activity on my part.

However, contemplating the return journey of the train, I decided to return to "railroad photographer" mode. Consequently, I carefully looked around the Torrey Pines Bridge and settled on a position that seemed to offer the most promise in terms of composition, light angle and historical interest. As news of the train's delayed departure from San Diego reached me, I began to worry that the light would deteriorate completely, no matter what its angle. I also began to question my sanity for waiting so long for a single image.

Finally, I heard of its departure at 6:05, and figured it would take 45 minutes for the train to reach my location. Just as I could see the train's headlight in the distance, the sun broke through the gathering clouds. The historic bridge and the locomotive's smokebox "went electric."

I'm glad I waited. But six hours for one photograph? I guess I'm still a foamer.

Images from the entire day

Start of Construction, Take 2

We finally had our hearing with the Fullerton Planning Commission on May 14. After a brief discussion including an objection raised by a "neighbor" around the corner, eight houses away, who didn't want to see a 2nd story structure from his house (he won't unless he uses a ladder), the commission voted 5-0 to approve our request for a zoning variance. After a 10-day (city business days) window to allow formal appeals of the decision to be filed, we should finally be able to pick up the building permits on June 3 -- exactly 4 months after the original date for the start of work.

Due to a lack of venue during our homeless period, the family gathered in a park near our house last Sunday to celebrate my birthday. For those of you who may not have been paying real close attention, the age counter in my profile updated automatically on May 19. It was unusually hot for mid-May in these parts that weekend, but we still managed to have a good time. My parents, wife, kids and grandkids were all there along with Melissa's homemade key lime pie. It was a simple, pleasant time and I took photos.

Rooting for Laundry

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld once observed that with the way professional athletes change teams at will, rooting for our favorite team with its constantly changing cast of characters essentially amounts to the fact that we're just "rooting for laundry," i.e. the guys wearing our team's jersey.

Why do we root for some teams and not for others? Geographic proximity is the most common reason. I was born, raised and continue to live near Los Angeles, so I follow the Angels (of Anaheim -- don't get me started on that issue), the Dodgers (to a slightly lesser extent), the Lakers, and the Anaheim Ducks. Had the LA Clippers done the logical thing and relocated to the newly built Pond in Anaheim during the 1990s, I might have been sucked into the black pit of despair that is the lot of being a Clippers fan.

Note the lack of football teams on my list. In 1996, the NFL saw fit to allow both local pro football teams to depart, the Raiders back to Oakland where they belonged and the Rams to anywhere else where they, too, belonged. I'll start following real football (soccer) before I ever give a rat's ass about an NFL team again. From my high school days as a 155 lb., 3rd string linebacker, American football has proven itself to be a sport that I can live without. Even our local university, Cal State Fullerton, quit fielding a football team in 1993 and now sells "Titan Football: undefeated since 1993" T-shirts in the bookstore. Meanwhile the university's baseball teams are nationally-ranked every year and average a national championship every decade. Even the Titan basketball team made the NCAA tournament this past season.

Incidentally, I'm getting interested in NBA basketball (notably the Lakers) again after taking a few years off from the NBA culture. But I've followed the career of Kobe Bryant since he was drafted as a 17-year- old out of high school. At times, it has been obvious that his talent as a player far outstripped his ability be a good teammate or to make good decisions off the court. However, he does seem to be getting it this year, as he has elevated the level of his own game as well as the entire team's. In my opinion he is truly deserving of the league's MVP award and I've enjoyed watching his talent as he has matured and I'll continue to root for him, particularly on his journey through life.

Occasionally, other events have forced me to re-examine those loyalties as well. I was a die-hard Dodger fan growing up. When Rupert Murdock's Fox Corp. bought the Dodgers and replaced Orel Hershciser and Mike Piazza with Kevin Brown and Gary Sheffield I found it impossible to care about the team any longer. Since I had recently moved to Fullerton, just next door to Anaheim, it seemed like a good time to transfer my primary allegiance. Living just a 10-15 minute drive from Angel Stadium helps a lot, and as long as they don't sign Barry Bonds or Manny Ramirez as their DH (even though they seem to need one) I'll keep rooting for them, in spite of the fact that a sorting mistake with some of my red Angels gear could turn all of my laundry pink!

On Hanging in There

I've been doing a lot of thinking these past few days about the notion of optimism and yesterday's post may have betrayed my natural inclinations on the subject.

So it was good therapy yesterday to follow up on a tip that I caught reading Sports Illustrated in the waiting room of my doctor's office. When I got back to the house, I retrieved a bookstore gift card from last Christmas and purchased The 33-Year-Old Rookie. By the end of the afternoon, I'd finished it.

If the films Bull Durham or The Rookie resonated with you at all, I'd recommend this story without hesitation. Chris Coste (pronounced "Coast") spent 11 years in baseball's minor leagues. Normally a player who hasn't made the major leagues after 5 or 6 years in the minors starts looking at other career paths.

There are several refreshing aspects to this book. One is that Chris wrote it without the help of a ghostwriter. He also clearly appreciates how fortunate he is to play baseball for a living. He has faith in his ability, but he seems to do so without ego. And while baseball locker rooms and dugouts are certainly not repositories of good taste and polite conversation, Chris does a good job of keeping the vulgarities to a minimum without excessively sanitizing the atmosphere. I'm encouraging my 11-year-old son to read it.

And even though Chris doesn't play for the Angels, or even the Dodgers, I'll be rooting for him.

Hoping Against Hope

This "demotivational poster" from one of my favorite web sites pretty much describes the frame of mind that I'm trying to fend off for the moment.

Last Wednesday evening, Amy and I (along with my Father who came along to lend moral support) showed up to the City of Fullerton's Planning Commission meeting ready to clear the final hurdle to get our remodel project off the ground. The Planning Department's staff report recommended in favor of granting our request, so things were looking good. 

Okay, we showed up…too bad the commissioners didn't. Well, 3 of the 7 did, but four were needed for the necessary quorum to have a public meeting. So our item is continued to the next regularly-scheduled meeting on May 14, when the Amerige Court project, a 9-story monstrosity to be built immediately behind the site of my former studio in downtown Fullerton, will also be before the commission. That is sure to bring an angry mob of citizens to the council chambers to witness our little mini-drama.

In the words of Lloyd Bridges in the film Airplane, "I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue!"

John's Fundraising Hair Raiser

The boy did something remarkable this past Sunday. He's been growing his hair for the past two years. Perhaps the notion entered his head when his sister donated her long brown hair to Locks of Love with several of her sixth grade friends. He's two years younger and now it became his time and for the past couple months he's been looking forward to the day when his hair reached the necessary 10" in length for it to qualify as a donation.

Before going to church, his Mom put it up into 24 ponytails and he went to church like that. The kids in the youth group were having a fundraiser immediately after the service to to raise donations for the Fullerton CROP Walk coming up on April 27. John managed to make his donation do double duty. He sold opportunities to cut off a ponytail for a suggested $1.00 donation, although the total reached $103 after all 24 were snipped off. A No. 2 buzz completed the job immediately after lunch.

Photographs of the Walk

Progress of Sorts

After a series of setbacks, we got our first sign of things headed in the right direction today. There were notices posted in the front and postcards in our (and our neighbors') mailboxes giving official notice of the hearing of our case before the Planning Commission.

I can't imagine that anyone would show up and actually object to our improving our house, not to mention the neighborhood.

"A request for a Variance to construct a 723 sq ft habitable addition (1st floor 195 sq. ft.; 2nd floor 533 sq. ft.) including two (2) new bedrooms on a triangularly shaped lot approximately 3,175 sq. ft. in area. The project proposes to provide approximately 746 sq. ft. of open space (a 25% reduction of the required 1,000 sq. ft.) and have a floor area ratio of .54 (an 8% increase of the maximum floor area ratio of .50) on property located at 700 N Hall, at the eastern side of the intersection of Grove Place and Hall Avenue, abutting the Fullerton Creek Channel."