Handcuffs All Around

I returned home last night from seeing the Angels lose to the Yankees 7-1 (what a waste of 6 dozen baseballs that was) to find a letter from Countrywide Home Loans on my desk with a mild expletive scrawled across the top by Amy. It said that our data, along with that of two million other customers, had been stolen by one of the company's senior analysts. The stolen information includes our Social Security numbers, credit history, etc. The letter stated that the company was offering two years of free credit monitoring services. (Insert expletive here)!

Reading the LA Times this morning, the article about this incident stated that Rene Rebollo of Pasadena, Calif., has been fired, arrested (in that order?), pleaded not guilty and is free on bail pending trial Oct. 7. I hope that was worth it Rene.

Countrywide is one of the prime culprits in the whole subprime lending mess that has rattled our economy. I would have never intentionally done business with them, but when we refinanced our house for the remodeling project, the ink was barely dry on the papers we'd signed when we were informed that Countrywide had bought our loan.

Ironically, directly below the Countrywide story is an article concerning the intense security of KFC's efforts to protect the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices in Kentucky Fried Chicken. The yellowing sheet of paper handwritten by the Colonel himself" was placed in a lockbox that was handcuffed to security expert Bo Dietl, who climbed aboard an armored car that was whisked away with an escort from off-duty police officers."

Apparently, our financial secrets don't rate the same security measures as a fried chicken recipe.


By the way, the house is moving along great these days. We passed drywall and exterior lath inspections yesterday, they'll finish the roof and start the scratch coat stucco today, and I'll be installing ceramic tile floors in both bathrooms over the weekend.

New Photo Album

Less than five weeks until moving day!

Meanwhile…

Obviously, the house project is the foremost thing on my mind these days. However, I have tried to put a "spacer" post in between each one about the house. With about six weeks to go before we move in to the "new" house, it will be difficult to maintain that rhythm, because finishing the project is going to the only thing on my mind in the foreseeable future.

But there are other things going on to be sure. Saturday, Amy and I were returning from a Santa Ana College art gallery opening, exiting the SR91 freeway at State College Blvd. She said "look at all those balls!" "Huh?" I said. "There's a whole bunch of Union 76 balls on top of that building, haven't you ever seen them?" Honestly, in the hundreds of times I've taken that off ramp, I've never looked 90º to the right, I've been more concerned about the cars stopped at the end of the ramp.

Donco & Sons, Inc.

So we drove over to have a look. Sure enough, in the extreme southeast corner of Fullerton, is Donco & Sons, Inc., a signage and lighting company that was apparently the keeper of the Union Oil Company's classic orange ball signs which were all removed a few years ago, when Conoco/Phillips/Union Oil were all merged into a single entity that is now about to get out of the retail gasoline business itself. I kinda wish old man Donco had sent one of his sons up on the roof to rotate some of the signs into a more photogenic pattern, but it's still pretty cool.

Then this morning, I'm driving to work, listening to the aftermath of Sarah Palin's VP acceptance speech, my blood beginning to boil, hearing a bunch of right wing pundits try to tell me that running a state for a year-and-a-half that has one fourth the population of Orange County, constitutes the necessary experience to take over the helm of our entire country, if indeed John McCain who'd be the oldest man ever elected to a first term in office would do what comes naturally to many men that age. And I'm sorry to bring this up, but when did teenage pregnancy become fashionable amongst the Christian right wing? I know we're supposed to leave Mrs. Palin's family out of this, but perhaps she should keep her family out of the limelight for a while. Perhaps she could use her shtick to audition for the reunion episode of the Northern Exposure TV show.

But I digress. Let's try that again.

Then this morning, I'm driving to work, turn the radio down and pass under a freight train slowing for a stop at Fullerton Jct. It's 6:15 am. I know that Metrolink train 701 (Riverside to Los Angeles) is due at 6:18 and that train 700 (Los Angeles to Riverside) is due at 6:19. Might be worth parking the car and taking the camera over to the platform. One of the aspects of digital photography that I've come to appreciate is its ability to work well in the low levels of pre-dawn and evening twilight. Things like street lights, locomotive number boards and signals stand out, and for the first time in my experience it's possible to capture the real feeling of those moments.

BNSF 7510 West and Metrolink train 701 pushing away from the station.

Metrolink 700 pulls into Fullerton.

Metrolink 700 crossing from Main 3 to Main 1 at Fullerton Jct.

Meanwhile, back at the house, they start doing the roof today, and the drywall starts tomorrow. I've updated the the Construction Slideshow with a new finale. There will be a lot happening real soon, and I'll try to keep you posted.

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

Engineer Bill

Bill Stulla passed away on Tuesday, August 12, 2008 at the age of 97. He was better known as "Engineer Bill" to kids who grew up in the Los Angeles area during the 50s and early 60s. He hosted an afternoon cartoon show on KHJ channel 9 seated with two young guests behind an American Flyer train layout. This Los Angeles Times obit tells the story quite well.

This video recalls the experience of watching the show precisely.

My appearance on the Engineer Bill show, 1959.

I watched this show religiously…until I was on it. The train layout that was so impressive on TV didn't even measure up to the one I had in my bedroom. I had asked for a refrigerator car in my letter, but instead was sent a Maine Central boxcar that was lettered on only one side. When we played Red Light, Green Light I kicked that little girl's butt, yet they gave her the same prizes that I had "won" moments earlier. Didn't seem fair to me. After being on the show, I never watched it again.

Forgive me Bill.

They sure don't make kids' shows like that anymore.

Gratuitous Grandson & Train Photography

These are eventful days around the Styffe household with house construction, weddings, birthdays, etc. The temptation, of course is just keep throwing up pictures of the construction, since that project has most of our attention these days. But I can resist temptation. Usually.

Still, life goes on. Quite nicely. We had a lovely dinner with friends, the Strapacs and Lustigs, hosted by Ted and Liz Benson in Newport Beach recently. It had been a number of years since the two older Styffe daughters had been with the young Benson ladies. Having bonded at an early age over their fathers' unusual shared avocation, they have each blossomed into lovely young women. Dads and Moms couldn't be prouder.

A week later came grandson Finn's first birthday and the ceremonial smooshing of the birthday cake. Finn did not disappoint in this endeavor. More Photos

Finally, just to keep myself centered, I brought my camera trackside this past weekend even though nothing particularly unusual was going on. But as often happens under such circumstances a nice image resulted, this one of commuters going off to work early on a Monday morning. More Photos

By the way, the house is still coming along well. The outside lath is nearly complete, the rough plumbing and electrical are signed off, and the drywall will start going up soon. 

Even from our lofty perch these days, things are looking up.

Extreme Makeover -- Sane Edition!

With the upstairs portion of the house in place, Amy and I can really envision how it's going to look. Needless to say, we are stoked!

Considering how badly this project started, things are now progressing at an amazing pace these days. As I write this, Mario and his framing crew are nearly finished with that phase of the construction. A framing inspection has been requested for this coming Monday or Tuesday. The rough electrical is well along, and the plumbers will be out to get started this Monday too.

Talking with our contractor this morning, I got news that the project won't be done in early November like I had expected. He's aiming for a final inspection at the end of August! That's going to mean some hustle and heavy lifting on my part, since the kitchen cabinet work and interior painting were left out of the contract and are my responsibility.

The TV show referenced in the title of this post features insane people building insane projects at an insane pace! If we'd the good fortune to experience a tragedy so profound as to qualify for one of those TV home makeovers, they have made it twice this big in the course of one week's time. No thanks.

So "Move That Bus!"

New Slide Show and New Photo Album

The Wedding

The moment one sees his baby girl in the cradle, a dad is aware that the essence of that relationship will be short lived. The fact that this is as it should be makes the whole scenario not all that painful.

From the moment that we met Ben, it seemed apparent that this event would unfold in its good time. So happily Ben joined our family just as Jenn joined his and the world keeps on turning just as it should.

I am not a wedding photographer, I don't even play one on TV, so these photos are just a few images that I took while being the father of the bride. We hired my friend Damion to do the essential and creative photography of the event.

Normally, I don't do weddings, which is also as it should be.