Running To Stand Still

I'm doing it because daylight savings time ended a month ago and my riding during the week is already extremely limited.  I'm doing it because the only thing I probably dislike more is riding my bike in the rain.  I'm doing it just so I can run with Sam on weekends.  For cyclists, running is one of those necessary evils of the off-season.  You do it to maintain some level of fitness over the winter.  Pound, pound, pound.  Foo Fighters on the iPod helps.  Quads aching for hours is bad.  Run. 30 minutes. Shower. 5 minutes.  Done.  Move on.

What Is It, Really?

Chai is of Persian origin generically meaning "tea".  So Coconut Chai is, by definition, coconut tea. Yet, the subtitle says Green Tea.  To confuse things even more, the other description says "Assam Green Tea".  Assam is typically strong black tea.  Add ginger to the mix and I got my head spinning.  So what kind of tea is it?  It tastes closer to chai than any of the other flavors on the label.  Nonetheless, it is good. Bought from Sprouts Market for around $6.

"Purple Homestead"

Something about this 8ft x 8ft painting by California artist Deanna Thompson appeals to those who love the desert (like me).  "Purple Homestead" is showing at the MCASD lobby under Acquisitions Highlight.  The piece seem to break every rule of composition -- subject smack in the center of the image and the horizon dead-center in the frame as well.  Yet it works in its simplicity and portrayal of the vastness of the landscape relative to the living structure.

Standing between 5 to 10 feet away from the painting, you cannot help but take a closer look to see what's inside the house.  Sure enough, there is a lot to see.  A simple horizon is interrupted by a beat down house so life-like in detail, I could see the way the wall studs are put together.  Abandoned or in the process of construction?

 ... the museum lobby's open, bright layout is the perfect way to show the piece.

Quick, Find Some Paper!

I don't get bored easily with work-related discussions.  But on rare occasions, an all-day meeting is enough to push me over the edge.  By noon, I would have sat through at least 4 hours of discussions and I'm either looking for an excuse to get out of there or find a way to entertain myself while listening to all dialogue.  So I scrambled to my office during a break and looked for something to doodle on.  

Fortunately, I found these unused Thank You cards by Papyrus made of some textured card stock (and of course, I had my ever trusted gel pens).

Unfortunately, the meeting extends for another 8 hours tomorrow.

Fortunately, I have a stack of another dozen or so of these unused cards.

Have Pen, Will Doodle

Spent Thanksgiving weekend in Vegas with family and for the first time in a while, I forgot to bring a camera.  On previous trips, I would spend evenings in the hotel editing some photos taken during the day.  It's hard to suppress creative output for 3 full days so I had to make do with what I had in the hotel room -- a 4"x6" pad of paper.  As the kids were winding down Thursday evening, I started drawing and by Saturday, I've done about six of these doodles.  Thank goodness, I have several gel pens in my backpack.

Vito's Playhouse

When I wandered into the gallery, the first thing that caught my eye was the set of 4 American flags, framed with window cuts and thought, ok, another Jasper Johns variant.  After all, the American flag is the most recognizable and often, hated icon in the world today.  But I saw the system of pulleys as well and rope and swing.  Still, it didn't quite register.  I've seen these post-modern symbolic installations before -- yet another one, I thought, all subject to interpretation.  Holes through the flag in strategic areas.  I sat there for a few minutes trying to find a decent photographic angle.  The MCASD museum guard stood there watching me, as if wanting me to talk to him on this quiet Monday during Thanksgiving week.  So I asked, "Does it work?"

Heck yeah. Start by sitting on the left, he said and then rock toward the right and magically, each panel will start rising.  But little did I know what was really on the outside -- thinking it was just the reverse image of the stars and stripes.  Nope.  Hammer and sickle.  That's strange, the Soviet Union had been dissolved for at least a couple decades, so what's the relevance of the piece.  Of course, I didn't read the description of the piece until after I finished playing around with it.  Built in 1980, at the height of the Cold War, Vito Acconci's "Instant House" was a throwback to the days when everyone took sides, either inside or outside.

La Jolla Beach in Late Fall

This is why I live here in California and not on the East Coast or in the Rockies.  While the rest of the country is pondering what the start of winter brings in about 3 weeks, we are enjoying 70 deg weather here.  I drove down to La Jolla on Monday to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) and not only was the weather perfect, the availability of parking right on the beach was also a welcome change from how it typically is during the summer months.

The photo above was taken from the 2nd floor of MCASD overlooking the area where the sea lions sunbathe just around where the rocks are.  I cannot think of a more beautiful setting for an art museum.  Below is a shot of the Pacific Ocean from a window opening inside MCASD.  This window is actually the 2nd of 3 pieces by artist Robert Irwin titled 1° 2° 3° 4°.

Above is a photo of the access steps to the breakwater to get to the sea lions, just below a lifeguard tower.  I can't even imagine how many times this wall had been painted and re-painted as it is exposed to sun, wind and salt-water 365 days a year.  Below are some skimboarers riding the afternoon waves.  The water still seemed cold enough so they had wetsuits on.  The only indicator one would get that this is not a typical summer day is the empty beach in this world-famous tourist town of La Jolla.