City Council

The CRA's project labor agreement was passed unanimously and without much fanfare or opposition at City Council.

Funny how Council works, the president Eric Garcetti conducts the meeting, and all the other council members are just scattered around talking in their own little groups.

This morning I attended the LA City Council's Housing Community Economic Development committee to watch the vote on the Community Redevelopment Agency/LA Project Labor Agreement. It passed and so on to the full City Council at 10 AM for the final vote.

Herb Wesson is the chairman of the HCED, and members include Ed Reyes, Tom Labonge (my councilman), Garcetti, and Jan Perry.

The beginning

Tonight, I went to Staples Center to watch the Lakers season opener against the Blazers...this is the fourth consecutive year I've gone to the first game of the season. It was fun going with a larger group this time around.

Anyway, since preseason started, a lot of basketball fans were unsure how the Lakers would come out this season, but they looked very impressive. Bynum and Pau played well together, Radmanovic fit very nicely into the starting line, Odom led the second team to a strong outing and on they went to begin the season 1-0.

Celebrities on hand: Denzel Washington, Leonardo Dicaprio, Rick Fox, Arnold the governator, Andy Garcia, David Beckham, Frank Robinson, singer from Maroon 5, Penny Marshall, and of course Jack Nicholson.

Btw, sort of hard to see, but that's my Laker tie in the picture haha

Construction

So on most days, I wear a shirt and tie to work...but sometimes we go out to the construction sites to interview the workers and make sure they're being paid the proper wages.

Today, we went out to the Port of LA...

Temescal Canyon

We went on another hike this morning, but this time Christian joined Eddy, Andrew, and I. We went over to Pacific Palisades to the Temescal Canyon trail (recommended by my friend Joanne)... At first we went off on to some side trail and started having to crawl under these branches (Picture 1) the whole time until we realized we couldn't get any further up the mountain... After that, we went onto the real trail and headed for the waterfall (Picture 3) which didn't have much water, but I suppose at the right time of the year, it would have been nice. Up until that point, it was pretty boring, just a whole bunch of going uphill in the dirt, so we saw this rock area that we could climb up, so we did that, and got to this little rock (picture 4 and 5) on the ledge, yea, anything to keep us entertained. Anyway, if you keep going up the mountain, you get to the top and get this view of the ocean and all the huge houses in Pacific Palisades...In between all that, I climbed up another rock area and thought I was gonna die haha...

Bowling

So a lot of people don't know that when I was younger (high school), I looooved bowling...

I was looking at my old manager's facebook where he had a picture of his bowling score so I challenged him today...

I won the five games, the first of which is the picture above...even though I won, my score fell off after the first...159, 183, 179, and another 179....


Who wants to go booooowling?

Cookies

While I had another crepe for dessert (after eating at loteria grill), christian bought cookies...

Obama or McCain?

City Hall, Awards, filming, and more

Went to City hall to do a nomination for some award...but the fun part is in walking through we saw this cool clock making cool noises...

Then we walked on and the show, "Dirty, Sexy, Money" was being filmed...I walked right by Lucy Liu, she's hot in person haha...but no pictures, sadness

Sunday morning in LA

Driving back home from Palmdale this morning...

I get to LA and realize today is the AIDs walk...

So I take a detour from Melrose and La Brea (first picture), then I come back to Beverly and La Brea (second picture), then I need to turn again and run into the rest of the traffic here on 3rd street...

I'm all for these walks for good causes, but damn, haha, can they start at like 5 am on Sunday morning so as not to cause the traffic in the above picture

Ridunk

Columbus Day at La Mirada Golf course

Some people work on Columbus Day but us city workers get the day off...

The city had a March of Dimes golf tournament at La Mirada Golf course, so a couple of my coworkers formed a team and played...

Didn't play too well though, whoops...at least it was for a good cause haha

Eddy's 23rd

We celebrated my old roommate Eddy's birthday last night with dinner at Palms Thai with Elvis performing haha...then went to Bungalow on Melrose and Formosa...

It was additionally fun because my roommate's sister, and my former SPEAR counselor, haha, joined us for the first time in a while...but hopefully she still goes out with us again next time lol.

This is one of the earlier shots, and most pictures after this one probably aren't too appropriate, so ill leave it to this one to tell the story...that and, LA water is bad for you

Hiking at Eaton Canyon

So after much delay, I finally went hiking at Eaton Canyon with Andrew and Eddy. We walked in dirt for half the trip, came across a waterfall, then started our trek over the boulders and up the mountain. We made it probably about 3/4 of the way to the top of the mountain. Fun times

Dashboard Confessional

I'm sure it would surprise anyone who knows me, but I went to a Dashboard Confessional concert last night at Staples Center...Even more, I learned 4 or 5 of their songs beforehand...then even further, I was convinced to buy a Dashboard t-shirt...



But you know what, it was a lot of fun, i really enjoyed it =)

LA Live

Yesssss, LA Live is almost done...retail/restaurants open in December. I think ESPN Zone opens early 2009.

Lakers

Tonight is the Lakers' first preseason of the season. Since I can't wear Laker jerseys to work, I instead go with the purple shirt and yellow tie today...

Los Angeles

So in a couple of my LA magazines, I've been seeing this ad for limited edition vodka, but I haven't had the chance to buy it...so my roommate picked one up for me at Bev Mo...Love LA...so here it is





Absolut Los Angeles

(Acai, Acerola, Pomegranate & Blueberry)

CRA Board

Today, the Community Redevelopment Agency/LA's Board of Commissioners voted to sign the Project Labor Agreement for future CRA projects. I won't bore you with details, but if you want to know more, I'd be happy to tell you about it!

Anyhow, the next step is for it to be voted on by City Council.