Sen. McCain Speaks In L.A.

Senator John McCain gave a major speech today and here is a excerpt- "How we behave at home affects how we are perceived abroad. ... We can't torture or treat inhumanely suspected terrorists we have captured.'' He called for Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) to be closed. He also again reiterated his belief that we must stay in Iraq. The speech was given at a breakfast held by the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. Unfortunately for me , no breakfast for the media (the oj looked good) and parking was $25 and that was including a validation discount...Not sure if the maverick Senator spoke about inflation.
published here

Moon over San Pedro

The Moon rises over the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro on the day of the vernal equinox, which wikipedia defines as "a day in which the Sun will spend a nearly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on Earth and night and day will be of nearly the same length"

Code 10-107 . Suspicious person

As dawn broke this morning, I was on the rooftop deck of a luxury condo building shooting some birds eye view photographs of the view for their ad campaign. I arrived there before 6 AM. It was very quiet and peaceful watching the sun rise out of the east, that is, until two Beverly Hills cops showed up on the roof to see what I was up to. Not sure if they thought I was a sniper or a jumper, all they said was they saw me while driving up Wilshire Blvd , but after a brief conversation assuring them everything was copasetic , they were back to patrolling the mean streets of Beverly HillsThe photo below is Century City from the same rooftop, same day (no police) at dusk.

2008 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race Training Day

Yesterday was training day at Willow Springs Raceway for the upcoming Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race to be held in Long Beach, CA on April 19. A very good cause ,"Racing for Kids" is the main beneficiary of this event as Toyota donates $5000 for each of the 18 racers to "Racing for Kids" a non-profit program benifitting children's hospitals in Long Beach and Orange County, California. It's the 10th consecutive year I will be covering this event for Toyota. This year, the celebrities include Wilmer Valderrama , Drew Lachey, and legendary NFL running back Eric Dickerson.

Somebody missed the dress code memo....

My friend and colleague Axel Koester just emailed this picture of me and a couple really cool musicians taken last December when we were covering the Ike Turner Memorial.In case you are wondering , that's me with the cameras and the crappy clothes.

Wildflowers In Bloom at Will Rogers Beach

For the last few weeks, I've biked by this really awesome bloom of wildflowers at Will Rogers State Beach. These flowers are Oxalis pes-caprae commonly known as sourgrass, which I ate plenty of as a kid. According to wikipedia "this sourness is caused by oxalic acid, which is toxic in large quantities and may contribute to kidney stones", who knew!!! This is by far the largest bloom I've seen there in the last 10 years. The local deserts must by spectacular.

$4 bucks a gallon

Most gas stations around L.A. are charging $3.57 a gallon for regular right now, but this Unocal on Pico and Barrington is 1/10 of a cent below $4.00 a gallon. Predictions are that $4 a gallon will soon be a reality although when a reporter asked Geroge W. Bush what he thought about that last week, he claimed he hadn't heard about that.