Improved parking

In April I wrote about the opening day parking fiasco at Dodger Stadium.

That problem now seems to be fixed.

4-day weekend

Off to Mammoth Mountain for some R & R…can’t wait to get up there!

There’s still snow on the mountain, according to the Mammoth web cam.

Real estate forecast

Wells Fargo forecasts a 6% decline in Southern California real estate prices through 2008.

Scott Anderson, senior economist at Wells Fargo Bank, sees SoCal median home sales prices falling 2.3% this year and 4.1% in ‘08. Some of his thoughts:

New team

On Sunday Dr. Mike and Janet joined Pop and me for our weekly outing at Gardena Bowl.  I have to say, I was very impressed that Dr. Mike was up at 8:15am (on a Sunday!). It was fun, and we’ll pick it up again after Memorial Day weekend.

German beer trail

Reading this article made me thirsty, and reminded me my visit to Berlin last September…

Quote of the week

“If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves…”

– Thomas Edison

Museum’s future

On Friday I received an e-mail from the Japanese American National Museum, who are holding a discussion group on Tuesday, May 29 to hear from its members what is important to them (click image to enlarge). Apparently the input will be used to help shape the future direction of the museum.

I’m planning on attending, as I have some thoughts about the museum that I’d like to share. I’m also curious to learn the opinions of other participants in this focus group.

If anyone has any thoughts of their own they’d like to share, send an e-mail to howardosa at yahoo dot com before May 29, or leave a comment below.

Honda: from conservative to sleek

Honda is making an investment in design by splitting its U.S. design studio in Torrance into three groups: Honda, Acura and an advanced design center in Pasadena.

Less is more

This mornng I asked Patsy and Russell where we should try for dinner next, and we agreed on Gardena Ramen.

After Googling Gardena Ramen, I found a ramen blog that raved about it:

Local news

When I opened my package from Blue Ribbon Flies the other day, it was packed with a few sheets of newspaper from the May 7 edition of The Big Sky: Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Living in Los Angeles, the Police Reports section was a good read:

• Deputies searched a school on Churchill Road after finding an unsecured door.

• Deputies took two reports of loose cows on Jackrabbit Lane.

It was also interesting to learn that the Gallatin County jail included a whopping total of 53 inmates.

Quote of the week

“Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad.”

– A. A. Milne

BBQ pork loin roast

For this year’s Mother’s Day dinner, I decided to try BBQ’ing a pork loin roast in the Weber kettle.

So yesterday I stopped by Cliff’s, to get some pointers from the BBQ master.

Happy Mother’s Day!

A big thank you to mom, for everything she’s done for our family, and continues to do.

I’ll try to show my gratitude today by BBQ’ing a pork loin roast (more on that later).

A Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!

Five-second rule 2.0

I had always thought the “five-second rule” was a guy-thing that women disdained, until reading this:

A COUPLE of weeks ago I saw a new scientific paper from Clemson University that struck me as both pioneering and hilarious.

Accompanied by six graphs, two tables and equations whose terms include “bologna” and “carpet,” it’s a thorough microbiological study of the five-second rule: the idea that if you pick up a dropped piece of food before you can count to five, it’s O.K. to eat it.

Cool new phone

Helio’s new phone, called “Ocean,” has a cool way to give you both a number pad and a keyboard.

This seems to solve a problem for people like me, who have two devices: a Blackberry for e-mails, and a cell phone.

Watch the video from Walt Mossberg, WSJ’s gadget guru.

Worst pirates…

…of Japanese products is China, according to the Japan Patent Office.

A survey it released Monday found that 65.4 percent of companies and organizations that experienced an infringement blamed China for making the illegal copies.

From Asahi Shimbun.

Kyle’s day

Saturday was Kyle’s day. Here he is with brother James, and it was great to see them having a total blast riding laps.

As always, a big thanks to Steve and Coco for hosting another nice party. And to Cliff for the great BBQ.

Rock bottom

According to a Newsweek poll, George W. Bush’s approval rating hit an all time low of 28%, the lowest since Jimmy Carter in 1979.

May 5, 2007 – It’s hard to say which is worse news for Republicans: that George W. Bush now has the worst approval rating of an American president in a generation, or that he seems to be dragging every ’08 Republican presidential candidate down with him.

Read the web-exclusive Newsweek article.

Quote of the week

“We measure ourselves by many standards . . . our strength and our intelligence, our wealth and even our good luck. . . . But deeper than all such things and able to suffice unto itself without them, is the sense of the amount of effort we can put forth. . . . He who can make none is but a shadow; he who can make much is a hero.”

– William James

“An honest brew makes its own friends”

That was John Molson’s quote, a topic of conversation at Cliff’s tonight after Dr. Mike broke out the Molson Canadian beers that he brought back all the way from Vancouver.

C$13 a six-pack. And worth every penny.

But next time, try the duty-free shop (inside joke).

Read more about the Molson Canada, North America’s oldest brewery, founded in 1786.

Film to beat this summer

Spider-Man 3 smashes box office office records in Japan, in its world premiere on Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Times’ Kenneth Turan gave it a lukewarm review, however.

Young, gifted and not getting into Harvard

This New York Times piece has been #1 on the most e-mailed list since it was published on April 29.

A Harvard alumni writes about the undergrad applicants he interviews — most of whom will not be accepted, in spite of their stellar grades and accomplishments — and concludes that there are many paths to excellence in life beyond the Ivy League.