Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Tonight's Episode of Criminal Minds

After watching the Dodger game for about an hour and a half, I knew I wasn't going to watch the last half. As soon as nine o'clock hit, I was changing the channel. "Criminal Minds" came on at nine. The way the Dodger game was going, I wasn't going to miss much. Boy was I right. When "Criminal Minds" ended, the Dodgers were batting in the top of the ninth inning ... down five to zero. Matt Kemp was up to bat ... he was the only Dodger to get a hit in the game. A single. What does he do? Draws a walk. So, Loney comes up with Matt on and two outs. What does he do? He strikes out swinging.

Back to "Criminal Minds"... really good episode tonight. Breaking it down, the opening scene was INTENSE. Definitely something you don't want your young children seeing. Really. Didn't see that coming in the opening scene. Anyone else watching the show think the actor who played the doctor (psychiatrist) looks like Casey Blake?
Bjorn Johnson
Casey Blake

Wish I could find better examples. But when I saw the actor, I really did think he looked like Casey Blake. And then when the unsub finds his dad, he's watching a baseball game. I'm curious to what games he was watching. The one in the flashback and the one in the present. Did this episode remind anyone of the movie "Changeling" with Angelina Jolie? Anyone see the parallels? Unsub kidnaps kids with the help of his kid. Takes kid to his place. Kills kid. Makes his kid help. Repeat. The case does sound a lot like the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders.

I can't wait to see next week's episode, featuring William Sadler. I love William Sadler, ever since I saw him play Sheriff Valenti on "Roswell". Unfortunately, I won't be home watching the show. Hopefully. Where will I be? GAME ONE of the National League Division Series!!!!!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Stupid dog

So, I was driving down the street to go pick up my mom. There's a stray dog in our neighborhood that likes to hang out in our street. He comes into our backyard sometimes, especially when my mom puts leftovers out for the strays. Well, this dog was just sitting pretty in the middle of the street. You would think it would move when I stop right in front of it. Nope. It just sits there. In front of my car. I honk at the dog a few times. It still didn't move. A car pulled up behind me. So, I got out of the car and yelled at the dog to move. It finally moved. No wonder dogs get hit when they run into the street. They don't get out of the way when a car stops right in front of it.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Autographs



Check out my Dodgers blog to find out what autographs I've gotten this weekend! Lots of pictures!

http://fallingLEAVes02.mlblogs.com

Saturday, September 12, 2009

This is why you don't make a left turn when it says "right turn only"


Especially when there's a CHP squad car coming your way!

We were in Downey for Heidi's birthday party. For her birthday, she wanted us to go to JC Penny's for a group photo. Then we went back to the house for lunch and we watched a movie. On the way home, I needed to stop for gas. So, I stopped at a gas station in Montebello. I have stopped at this gas station before. I usually go to this one when I'm coming home from Heidi's and I need gas. As I was cleaning my windows, I noticed this car pull in, turn around, and start to head out. What caught my eye was how packed their backseat was. I thought it was odd. I also noticed they were making a left turn when it's a right turn only. So, I go back to cleaning my windows.

Next thing I know, I hear a screech of tires. I turn around and see a CHP squad car swerve around the white car. He swerved to the right, so he wouldn't go into the oncoming traffic. It came straight at us! Fortunately, there was some sidewalk between us. I heard the car hit the sidewalk (as well as watched everything from that point on unfold) and the tire blow out. I seriously thought he might jump the curb and that terrified me since we were in his path if he did. Looking at the skid marks, if he had jumped the curb, he might have just clipped the back of my car if he did. The other car was stopped in the middle of the street with its emergency lights on. The CHP officer got out of his car, looked around, and then motioned to that car to pull into the gas station. He eventually came over to us and asked us if any of us saw what happened. Then he asked if we minded waiting so they could take our statements. By then, we expected that. We had plenty of time to leave, but we stayed figuring they would need our statements. I had gone inside to get my receipt and the guy asked me what happened. He said he's seen so many people ignore that "right turn only" sign and make a left.

We were talking about what happened while we were waiting, and on the way home too. I was a little more apprehensive driving home. I jumped in my skin when we were close to Nina's and the car next to me honked at someone. We were talking about how fortunate it happened the way it did. There were a million different ways it could have turned out worse. No other vehicle was hit. No one was injured (hopefully! The only injury I can imagine is the whiplash the officer may have since the other car wasn't hit and I don't know how hard he hit the sidewalk). Nina said she saw the car swerve around the other car and come right at her. She said she must have the "deer in the headlights" look. She saw him jerk the wheel. We thought he did a good job maneuvering on the road. Angelina said if she was in his situation, she probably would've just hit the brakes and shut her eyes. I'm sure I would've done the same thing. I definitely wouldn't know how to maneuver like he did!


You can see the skid marks from the CHP squad car.

So, how often do you obey the "right turn" only sign???

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Pictures for my photojournalism class

For our next class meeting, we're supposed to bring some of our best pictures to show. I picked these to show.



















Posted by Picasa

Saturday, September 05, 2009

First week of school

Tuesday was my first day back as a full-time student at PCC. I haven't been a full-time student since I started working. Now that I'm not working, I went back. Interesting thing happened on the way to school. I was at the intersection where I get onto the 5 freeway and the truck in front of me went. As he was making the left turn, two long flats of wood, a lawn mower, and something else fell out of the bed of his truck. Fortunately, I wasn't moving and was able to stop before I hit one of the things that fell out. The lawn mower however rolled across the intersection! The guy got out and collected his items. By then I was completely stopped since the light had turned red right after everything fell out of his truck.

My first class of the day was photojournalism. Maybe I didn't read the description correctly, but when I signed up for the class, I thought it was to learn about photojournalism. You know, the inception, the rules, what photojournalism is all about. Here's the online description from the PCC website
"Picture series, essays and stories with assignments on various college publications. Historic and current trends in photojournalism and contemporary publications"
Guess I didn't expect to be taking photographs for the school paper when it says "various college publications." Yikes!

My other class is an English class. On Thursday, we took a little quiz about the assigned reading from Tuesday night. After the quiz, we took a break. I overheard one guy ask another guy about something. He was leaving early to go to a game. I asked him what game he was going to. The Dodger game, of course. I asked him where he was sitting, he said front row, loge. I told him I was sitting in the field level that night. But I wasn't leaving early. I wanted to. I ended up staying and wishing I had left early as well.

Saturday was the class meeting for my online class. When I first signed up for it, I couldn't find the information about when the first meeting was supposed to be. So, I e-mailed the professor. He replied back and said it was on Saturday, September from 9:30-11. I showed up a little late and about ten minutes into the class I started wondering if I was in the right class. There were a handful of student assistants walking around. So, I asked one of them because he kept coming up to me and asking if I needed any help. I understood what the professor was doing with excel... but I was just confused about being in the right class. I was right. I was in the wrong class. I pulled up the online schedule and there it was:
"No. 2608: Online. TWO on-campus meetings. Orientation:Saturday, September 5, 1:15-2:15pm in R216. Studentsenrolled in this section MUST come to the first classsession to obtain information regarding the class, OR YOUMAY BE DROPPED. Final Examination: Saturday, December 18,1:15 - 2:15pm in R216. The remaining class hours will beheld ONLINE. Student needs to have easily availableInternet access to complete this course."

What a first week back this has been! What did I end up doing? I went shopping! Well, just a little. I stopped by the store I used to work for (well, the location in Pasadena anyway since my store is now closed) and chatted with some of the managers there who I know. I bought a top that was on sale that I had liked when I was working in Glendale. Then I went to Borders and found a few bargain books. It was buy two get the third free. So, I got a baseball quote book, a sketchbook (for my scrapbook), and another little sports quote book. By then I was hungry and knew what I wanted. Spaghetti. Pasta. Something along those lines. See, years ago, I would've just gone across the street from PCC to Coffee Club and got spaghetti. They closed about a year or two ago. No more. I went to the PCC cafeteria to see if they were open and had spaghetti. Yes it was open, but the grill was closed. I ended up with pizza.