vibrant

this is from last week's show in norco. almost as soon as i walked into the show area of the lot, i heard, "kathy!" for all i know, they're calling to someone else, cuz they usually are, but not this time.

it was an old acquaintance, my buddy, gary. hadn't seen him at a show for a couple of years. and you know with old guys...you start to wonder...

last time i saw him, was at the riverside show-n-go. he'd had his chevy there the first night, but not the next day. his friends told me his starter had stopped. on the car, that is.

and then i didn't see the car or him there last year. really at any show in riverside last year.

but here he was in norco. with a new car. no wonder.

said he still has the chevy, but now has to decide which one to take out.

so of course, i had to take a picture of his new baby. so hey, gary. what's with the bright, bright colors on your cars?

and what the h...this is like my third or fouth post in a row with a turquisey color vehicle.

lucy lucy lucy

been a crazy week at work. i do have some deadlines i gotta work toward this weekend, but i'm still trying to have "a weekend." 

spent the morning in the oc, watching my kid play in one of his alumni baseball games. unfortunately, both high school and college games were today, so he picked high school. probably because his best friend, and former team mate was in town, before heading off for spring training for his minor league team.

another of his former roommates should be starting this year in the  major league. maybe i can weasel some tickets from him. my kid chose to pursue a law degree, and is about to graduate. he should pick one of his friends, and work on their contracts.

anyway, after the game, figured i had options for the balance of the day: go home and work on my deadlines; get some lunch and go home and work on my deadlines; or i could drive out to norco, to see if there was anything worth seeing at the all american working iron show. guess what i picked. its called avoidance.

i don't miss the drive out toward riverside. anyone else feel like they're driving in the wild wild west going east on the 55 freeway? there always seems to be accidents, and people drive even more like idiots than other freeways. like there are no lane lines, swerving around the semi trucks. for get physics of stopping that much weight.

been a while since i've gone out to that big boy, and the parking lot was busy, but not crazy full like other shows they have there.

this one mostly had trucks, vans, and any cars that may have been used on farms back in ye olde times. and old cars were welcome too. unfortunately, many of them had their hoods up, so that cut my stay time by a lot.

i was about ready to leave, not finding a lot to keep me interested in shooting, when this car drove through the lot. was hoping it wasn't leaving, and happily saw it park way at the end, away from most of the show. i headed back that way directly, just in case.

owner was still sitting inside, on a cell phone. he jumped out when he saw me setting up. wasn't necessary, i was low, and he wouldn't have been in the shot at all. anyway, i took a few angles of it, and liked this one best. silhouettes up on the light pole, and the side view of the car; seemed appropriate.

one of the things i noticed when it originally went by, was that there was a big ole' lucille ball on the trunk. i couldn't get a good straight up shot of her, because he'd backed up against some plants i didn't want to totally walk around in or on.

owner said his wife really loved lucy—didn't everybody? he said he just happened to be driving by, wasn't really there for the show. can't remember where he said he lived, but i think he was just as far from his home as i was.

i shot quick. he had been on the phone with his wife, and had to get going. thanks for waiting while i got my fun on.

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back home now, and decided not to do any work today at all. that, and also cuz my better half had my computer set up all taken apart, in order to put a battery backup on it. if his mom has her heater turned on, and someone runs the microwave, it blows a fuse. which means, my computer crashes. has happened one too many times. 

and i got a new back up drive, that i'm filling up as i type. gotta make sure its working. still has not quite three hours out of five left just for all the pictures i took last year, and january this year. 

gotta go clean my camera sensors now. hoping to wake up early and head out to hillco for the super cruise before the big game. hard to get parking for that thing.

after that, then i really do have to get my job done. meeting on monday morning to present the designs.

hey, ernie, here it is

i'm pretty sure this is ernie's car. from back in february. a few of the latin gents drove all the way out to norco, where they found crazy me, who also drove all the way out to norco.

they got there kinda late, so had to park down the lane, instead of in a space as a group.

i've made the pilgramage out to this big boy a couple of times now. the lot was full up both times. i had wanted to go out to the show on memorial day, but we went to see the shuttle and dino bones instead.

ice ice baby

found this truck out at a show in norco not too long ago. kind of a hot day, but the paint job on this was so cool. it would have been nice if he hadn't parked so close to the fence...i could have gotten a better shot from the other side.

nice rims. almost a roulette wheel.

singin' the blues

getting late, and i still have stuff to do before zeebertime.

so i just want to add another to the teenie peenie collection. not because of the car—it's beautiful; but because the owner is so special he has to park just so, and in a handicapped spot. given, it's a car show, and maybe parking rules don't apply, but do you really need to take up this much space? the other owners know better than to bash into your car—they don't want you to bump into theirs either. you should be more worried about the crowds of people peeking in your windows, with their kids and keys and purses so daringly near your paint job.

that's hot

this bucket was from early in the year out in norco. back when i used to have to drive out to riverside pretty regularly. lots of pictures, and i've been reviewing files to try and free up space on my drive, and found this one. figured it was time for something besides a chevy. i think that's the owner in the picture. didn't say anything, just sat there while i did my shots. seemed pretty happy with himself.

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didn't go to any shows at all today. my better half treated me to the brian setzer orchestra show last night at the hollywood bowl. how long have i lived in california, and i've never been there? didn't realize so many people could be jammed onto a hillside.

was a great show, with the ninety-six piece symphony orchestra behind brian. the light show and fireworks were pretty cool. some of the acoustics were sketchy, and the music seemed to be playing down in a hole. one of the few concerts i've attended that didn't take three days for my ears to stop ringing, but still, glad to have been there.

i guess one of the big features of the bowl is that you can bring your picnic basket and booze and lounge about the area and in your seats before and during the show. all that is well and good, but not being drinkers, we had to smell all of our fellow show goers' open glasses of vino throughout the show. so nauseating. never could understand how people could drink that piss. it's nasty. i've tasted it, and i suppose i just never had those friends that i had to pretend to enjoy the taste of alcohol in front of growing up. actually, mostly didn't have friends, but did get to observe others making asses of themselves.

anyway, my better half put us up in a hotel nearby, so we didn't have to get stuck in the log jam of drunk winos after the show. thanks, d, you know how i hate sitting in traffic.

well, we enjoyed the show, the hotel, the air conditioning, and stuff. we had decided not to do the show in pasadena and hadn't brought the cameras on purpose, but had left others as an option. we slept in, then stopped over at the hilton by universal studios and ate the buffet for brunch. got too hot outside to bother with norwalk, and then got too sleepy to go to lakewood in the evening. and somehow, i'm ok with it. pretty awesome weekend, considering.

dodge'm

spent the weekend hanging out in riverside. my son's last season playing baseball (unless he gets drafted) is gearing up. watched his team play some practice games.

of course, i had to check for any car shows in the area. unfortunately, the grand national show was out in pomona, so i think a lot of shows were sucked dry by that one.

found this one a decent size show in norco at the big boy. don't recall having one of these in my digital garage, so i shot several of it. the owner even offered to close the back window for me, then fussed over how he'd gotten fingerprints on it, so he had to polish those off. thanks for that. they probably would have shown up from this angle.

the telephone pole and wires sort of bother me, but not enough to remove them from the shot...i'm tired, and they were really there after all. it is what it is.

anyway, big lot, and about 100 cars there. probably go again, should i happen to be in the area. gotta get some sleep...back to the grind tomorrow.