STOP!!! (Imagine this…)

She got out of work fifteen minutes earlier than usual. Drove her SUV to the unusually clear roads to CA-2 Freeway. Dialed on her Motorola soon as she parked inside the Washington Irving compound. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, or eight failed attempts, still can’t reached the person. Grabbed her purse, locked the car, beep beep, walked by the pathway along the benches, straight to LACER room. “Do not use this door, use the main entrance” said the post. Went around, clicked on the door knob, the door was locked. Where are the LACER people?

There was a lady on the field, “Do you see that two tourist buses on the road?” (Pointing by the side street outside the school fence), “they are going to the Dodger game; they are the LACER people going on a field trip.” Wearing her blue green Hawaiian dress, black and blue blazer, bloody red ballet shoes, and green and gray Ralph sunglasses…(to the Madagascar theme) Dan Dan da na nan dan….Dan dan da na nan dan…Dan dan da na nan…She ran across the Olympic sized field, straight to the buses about to leave. With her arms raised up high…she shouted…”Stop!!!” but he is not there, she walked back to her car more worried and irritated. Taking one last shot, walked towards the main building. A lady came out…”who are you looking for?” she asked her. Her cell phone rang…”Mommy, I’m right by the car, I helped Miss Camille at the office, and I didn’t hear my cell phone ring.”

Yes, that was me, looking for Abraham yesterday, he got a hot scolding afterwards.

At night while watching the finale of Dancing with the Stars, I sat on the sofa, with Abraham beside me. I asked, “How can you let Mommy run across that huge football field?” “Oh, that’s exercise; you need to do it sometime.” “How can you let Mommy make a scene like stopping a bus to look for you?” “Oh, just like a love movie, you know when she ran to stop the guy from leaving?”

My boy! My boy!

(this is a 2-year old picture, but Abraham's naughty smile is still as is)

MAXED-OUT!!!

Like a credit card that reached its ceiling limit,

Like tires of a car from a NASCAR race,

Like an athlete who just finished a triathlon,

I’m MAXED OUT! Totally tired

Are you a slave of your site counter?

On a lecture I attended last Saturday, I bumped into a professional web developer and had a short talk on site optimization and site counters.

He asked me what my purpose was in setting up a counter in my blog site. I told him I wanted to know how many people visit my site and I wanted to know basic information about my readers, like where they come from, and sometimes to visit their referring URLs. Aside from that, I also told him, it gives me motivation to write when I see the number on my counter rises.

He asked further how much time I spent reviewing the details of my site meter. I told him not a lot, like one to two minutes (of course I didn’t tell him I only spent few minutes because only a few people visit my site). He told me I’m okay, ‘just making sure I won’t be a slave of my site counter.

He said he know a couple of people who spends longer time analyzing their site counter reports as if doing a statistics project than updating their entries. Further, he said, slowly these people loose their readership because they cannot keep up with the demands of their readers. According to him, regular visitors to a site expect something new each time they drop by, so I should update often, preferably on a schedule, to please my visitors. Furthermore, he said, your site meter will follow to rise.

Hmmm…why does it sound familiar?

The Observatory

The day the kids and I first arrived in Los Angeles one of our first stops was Toy R Us in Los Feliz. On the way there, Brack pointed to that dome-shaped structure on top of the Griffith Mountain and told us, “that is the observatory; we will visit it once it reopens.” The wait took us four long years, a year more and it’s the same wait time as becoming a naturalized American.

Cut the story short, the first weekend it reopened in August last year, we were among the firsts visitors of the place. After the hassle of catching the shuttle bus for visitors, the trip was worth it, at least for Brack and the kids, being Science fanatics. While they tried some equipment and stopped for exhibits, I just walked and took pictures. In fifteen minutes my tour was over, rushed to the top of the building and enjoyed an aerial view of Los Angeles in totality.

The observatory, like the Hollywood sign, is visible from our bedroom window, we see it lighted at night, and it’s a delight to look at. However, I never before took a picture of this nice sight until yesterday. Griffith Park was on fire. I prayed for the fire to be controlled, and it was, the observatory is intact.