Posts Tagged ‘los angeles’

Dream schedule

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , ,
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My, how time flies when you’re enjoying yourself!  In my first week of scheduling freedom, I have started most days around 8:30-9 in the morning, when I wake up naturally.  I then spend the morning whiling away time enjoying an episode of The Voice or some Plants vs. Zombies gaming action.  Around noon, I packed up and headed out in search of places where I could sit and read or go online while enjoying the sunshine.  Sometimes I ended up hanging out in my car and oftentimes I found myself driving around to various parts of LA – Culver City, Santa Monica, Westwood…

I filled up my tummy for lunch, then spent the afternoons first online, then reading through the first book I plan to cross off my reading list: Switch.  Before I knew it, 5 o’clock would roll around and Panda would get back from work to find I wasn’t around.  I’d head back to meet up with him for a brief break to decide where to eat and off we’d go.  By 9 or 10 we’d be back for the night, winding down the day.  All in all a very relaxing and leisurely schedule for me!  Perhaps because it was so nice, it went by in a blur and suddenly I find myself at the end of the week wondering where all the days went.  Luckily, I now have the weekend to enjoy and more weeks of working online and reading offline to look forward to.

Hospital love

laelene Posted in photo blog,Tags: , , , , , ,
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Aww, there’s a hospital in downtown LA that lit up its lights in the shape of hearts.

hospital with lights lit up in shape of heart
lights in windows of hospital lit up into heart shape

Late night detour

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , ,
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It was late at night and I thought I’d be free and clear to drive down the 405, but of course they were doing construction and we got routed off the freeway onto Sepulveda.  I was pretty tired and the little caravan of cars all following the detour was amusing to me at that point.

False alarm

laelene Posted in photo blog,Tags: , , ,
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dark smoke stack emerging from flame in the distance, from a plant burning things

It looked so scary, but it was just a plant burning off some of its stuff. Not very eco-friendly, are they?

Racing planes

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , , , , ,
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Our shuttle to the satellite terminals at LAX had a little head-to-head with the planes on the runway. 😉

Aerial Westwood

laelene Posted in photo blog,Tags: , , , , ,
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Look above the line of tall buildings along Wilshire and you will find UCLA nestled among the greenery. Beyond that you can see the 405 and Getty Center to the left! Now what is that white thing in the middle of the hills?

20110830-103407.jpg

Manatee

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , ,
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Just enjoying swimming around on a beautiful day!

manatee from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Carmegeddon

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , , ,
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All day, Angelenos have been bracing themselves for the 405 shutdown, which has been dubbed “Carmageddon” due to the potential for massive gridlock across the city as traffic diverts elsewhere.  As it is, the 405 is known for terrible traffic conditions, so we were really unsure of what would happen when a 10-mile stretch of the northbound side (approximately from the 10 freeway to the 101 freeway) and a 4-mile stretch of the southbound side was closed for the weekend.  Anyone trying to get over into the San Fernando Valley would have to find an alternate route, ranging from PCH along the coast to the 101/170 or 5 further inland.

We’ve been hearing warnings for over a month, with traffic condition signs flashing: “405 Closed 10 to 101, July 16-17 Expect Big Delays”  It’s been over the news and I’ve heard that even people in Norcal up to the Oregon border were notified!  Caltrans sure worked hard to make sure that as many people knew as possible so locals could plan to stay in and visitors could schedule around the weekend.  As we got closer, we were even told about an app called Waze that could provide us with GPS routes based on traffic conditions to help us get around the congestion.

So Friday afternoon, people started leaving work (wishing each other a Happy Carmegeddon), hoping to get home before the craziness.  Many even stayed at home that day so they wouldn’t have to deal with or contribute to the evening traffic.  By the time I was getting out around 6, the freeways looked clear.  They never looked like at on a weekday!  I was originally going to wait until 8 or 9 to head home so I could avoid the commuter’s clog, but since it looked so good I packed up and left around 6:30.

It was the most amazing commute I ever had.  Even with normal free-flowing traffic, there are still a lot of cars on the road, but this time it was so much more empty.  I only saw one car using the carpool lane, and that wasn’t for lack of carpoolers!  They just didn’t need it.  The only time I really had to slow down was up by the Getty Center, where there had been a crash that needed to get moved over so we could squeeze by.

Thanks to Carmegeddon for freeing up the roads before the closure.  It made my life a lot easier that night!  We’ll see how the rest of the weekend pans out.  I’m steering clear until Sunday night.

In training

laelene Posted in photo blog,Tags: , , , ,
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I saw this training bus one morning on my way to work and couldn’t help but admire its simplicity. None of the noisy ads we’re used to seeing

training bus with no markings driving around los angeles

It's a beautiful color, one of my favorite, I'd say.

Flying in circles

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , ,
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Round and round they go…

helo practice from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

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