Roadtrippin'

I hope all of you had a lovely Thanksgiving. Mine was solid - spent it with my brother, sister - in - law, and some friends - the first Thanksgiving with any sort of family in four years or so.
So probably the biggest change in my life since my last posting has been that I bought a car. Biking was getting to be a real hassle, especially since my night classes have me coming home late at night, and the rainy season is approaching fast. So, I bought a black 2003 Mitsubishi Galant. Since it's a Japanese car (even though it was made in Normal, Illinois,) I decided to give her a Japanese name - Emiko. She's a pretty good car, and has been running nicely.

So I've taken her on a couple of trips already. An old friend of mine, Bart Green, who was my boss in Japan, is in Law School at USC down in LA. So he came up to visit a few weeks ago, and we hit the city and went to Muir woods. Then, since I had this past week off, I returned the favor, and spent a couple of days with him in South Central. I also visited other old friends, including Nick "Debauchery" Bauch, an old friend from Madison, Eric "EA" Anderson, who is in Dental school at USC, and Anjun Grewal, a friend from high school, who is a high-rolling doctor in west LA/Beverly Hills. It was a great time, and Emiko did well on her maiden road trip. Here are some pictures!

Emiko, in front of my classroom.

redwoods

Holy ground - the Dude's apartment in The Big Lewbowski

Holy Ground - where Dipino's Bug was sitting in my favorite movie of all time.

The Bruin, another classic theater near UCLA

Holy ground - the Ralph's Supermarket in the movie "The Big Lebowski" where the opening scene was filmed. I didn't write a check for 67 cents, however, and I did not taste the half and half. This is my favorite movie of all time.

A strange looking building in Venice, west LA

Quintessential LA, in South Central looking down Figuroa Boulevard toward downtown. Like, whatever!

The Westwood Village cinema, near UCLA, which is a very cool old theater.

The Blue Bus is calling us. Made famous by The Doors.

Pauley Pavilion, where the UCLA basketball team plays. They are currently #1 in the country, and have won eleven National championships, more than any other school.

With the USC-UCLA game coming up on Dec. 1, the people at the UCLA campus took some precautions against potential USC vandals. USC and UCLA have one of the great rivalries in college sports. It's definitely a two way rivalry, as you can see...

............and Tommy Trojan was protected with duct tape from potential UCLA vandals

Charles White and OJ Simpson's Jerseys

National Champions, 2004

USC has won seven Heisman Trophies. Mike Garrett, 1965, OJ Simpson, 1968, Charles White, 1979, Marcus Allen, 1981, Carson Palmer, 2002, Matt Leinert, 2003, and Reggie Bush, 2004. Along with Notre Dame and Ohio State, USC has the most Heisman Trophies of any school in the country.

OJ Simpson's Heisman, at USC

This woman was enjoying the drum music quite a lot at the Venice Beach party.

Interesting people dancing and drumming on Venice Beach, west LA.

The walls of the Watts towers.

A closer view of the Watts Towers - those are bits of tiles, bottles, and so on.

Watts Towers. One of the most interesting Art works I've ever seen. Deep in Watts, the infamous LA neighborhood (Watts Riots of '67, anyone?)

The Traveler's Club, a bar in the middle of Muir woods where they serve high-quality German beer. Very nice.

The conquero's pose. You can see the ocean in the background.

Muir Woods, from above