Celebrity Sighting

This happened a while ago, but I forgot to include it in my previous catch-up posts. I was walking into a local supermarket and noticed a very, very tall guy walking in front of me. I looked up and thought "Hey, that looks like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!". Then I thought "nah, couldn't be". But I looked back up (way up) at his face one more time and thought "I think it is him!". Just then, some guys across the parking lot yelled at him and, without looking at them, he signaled a "V" peace sign in their direction and steadfastly continued walking on. I'm almost positive it was him, especially since a shopkeeper later told me than he lives in nearby Playa del Rey and people frequently see him in this area.

Feeding Frenzy

I wandered to the beach this afternoon for a brief stroll, not expecting to stay long or see much. But soon I spotted a few dolphins. They were farther out than usual and hard to see, so I headed to the Venice Pier to get a better view. I couldn't find them again and was just about to go home when I noticed them swimming near a large collection of water birds. The birds were in a frenzy, flapping around and repeatedly dive-bombing the water. So I whipped out my trusty binoculars to see what was going on. I was stunned to see not only dolphins and birds in the mix, but also sea lions!! (Well, I'm guessing they were sea lions. They could have been seals - I can't tell the difference from a distance.) Several sea lions were vigorously swimming around in a porpoise-like fashion, with their heads and tails bobbing in and out of the water. This was a breath-taking sight to behold: dolphins, sea lions, and sea birds all swimming around in a frenzy in a very small area. I figure that one of the groups must have scared up some fish, and the other animals came over to partake. This was so cool to watch!

(Aside: it's amazing how difficult it can be to distinguish birds from dolphins from sea lions in the water! Yea, I know they look pretty different on land :). But when you look out on the ocean, all you see is a dark appendage (head, fin, or tail) sticking out of the water for a brief second and then it disappears. I've hallucinated many a dolphin that turned out to be a sea bird! Or a surfer. ;)

Venice Canals

Someone gave me a tip that I should check out the Venice Canals around Christmas time because many of the bridges and homes are decorated with holiday lights, and one house in particular has an especially elaborate display that is not to be missed. Wow, they weren't kidding - it was incredible. And the canals are gorgeous even without the holiday lights. Pictures are here.

Dolphins!!

My biggest thrill (and greatest surprise) here in Marina del Rey is that I frequently see dolphins swimming in the surf just a few blocks from my apartment. I love dolphins, so I'm on a tremendous high every time I see them. I bought a new camera with a good optical zoom to try and get some decent pictures. (If you happen to be on the MDR beach and see a strange woman with a huge grin on her face acting like an excited 2-year-old and running along the beach while frantically snapping photos of the ocean, that would be me. :) I got lucky this past weekend and saw a pod of probably 6-10 dolphins swimming in the surf for over an hour! My first attempts at photographing them can be found here ... I know, I need to do better. ;)

Los Angeles Zoo

Visited the Los Angeles Zoo. Not an elite zoo, but pretty nice. Had many unusual creatures that I don't think I've seen before. Pictures are here.

Venice boardwalk

Checked out the Venice boardwalk (which is not a true boardwalk, btw, to those of us who grew up on the east coast -- it's paved concrete, no wooden boards at all). What a trip. Lots of tattoo parlors, bong shops, street artists (some good, most not so good), and a seemingly infinite number of shops selling t-shirts and cheap souvenirs.

As I was walking toward the boardwalk from the beach, I heard a loud boom coming from the ocean. When I turned around, I saw two pirate ships out on the water throwing smoke bombs at each other. They were putting on quite a show for whoever happened to be walking along the beach. Awesome.

A Christmas Carol

Dec. 14 : Went with some folks from ISI to see "A Christmas Carol" at the First Lutheran Church in Venice. One of our colleagues, Ulf Hermjakob. played the Ghost of Christmas Present. The role of Ebenezer Scrooge was played by Orson Bean (who also wrote the adapted script). Kinda unreal to go a free play in a smallish church and see Orson Bean. That's LA, I guess. :)

The play was very cool and a bit unusual. Was more low-key than most performances you see in a theater, and they sometimes played off this for laughs. For example, high-tech visual effects were not really an option. So to illustrate the effect of Scrooge "flying" off with the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, they ran a couple of dolls along a clothesline across the ceiling of the church. The whole performance was a bit campy (in a good way!) and had a lot of humor in it. I'm still new to the area, but this performance very much seemed to match the spirit of Venice.