Comic-Con 2010: Anticipation and Being

Image via Wikipedia

I usually take a full week of vacation around this time every July. (Last year was an exception for reasons I won't get into.)

This is in anticipation of attending San Diego Comic-Con, usually for multiple days. This year I had every intention of buying a 4-day membership. So, in early March I went to the web site for Comic-Con, and proceeded to learn all 4-day memberships for this year had sold out in November of last year, which truly blew my mind.

So, I decided to go for a 1-day membership, for July 22 (tomorrow), and find other ways to fill my time during the week of vacation.

One good innovation Comic-Con is doing this year is offering early distribution of membership badges on July 21at a place away from the San Diego Convention Center (the site of Comic-Con) for those with 4-day memberships and 1-day memberships for July 22. I'm back from going to that. It happened at the Town and Country hotel's convention facility. The announcement of this that was emailed said this distribution would be available starting at 3 PM. I decided to get there about 2 PM and wait in line after parking at Fashion Valley mall, which has free parking and is next door to the Town and Country hotel.

As I was pulling into Fashion Valley property, I saw people walking away from the Town and Country wearing Comic-Con badges. Huh. There must have been a major line of people waiting for the distribution to have been opened early!

So, tomorrow morning it will be very nice to go straight to Comic-Con programming areas without having to get in line first for the badge.

One complication tomorrow is that in the evening I have a meeting of a class I am currently taking at UCSD Extension. Can't afford to miss that, so I'll probably leave Comic-Con somewhat earlier than I would have otherwise.

High surf

High surf - Ocean Beach
Originally uploaded by jeffwc00

I drove to San Diego's Ocean Beach neighborhood on January 15, planning to walk on the pier that is there and look for photographic opportunities.

Upon arrival I found access to the pier had been closed because of exceptionally high (for San Diego) surf that was occurring. As it was a very cloudy and gray day, I realized this was likely a preferable situation photography-wise, and spent several minutes getting exposures of the surf breaking against the pier's pilings.

More photos from that visit coming today, and, probably, tomorrow; most likely including a couple triptychs.

Again with the coral tree flowers

Coral tree flower at Lake Murray
Originally uploaded by jeffwc00

I seem to be developing an unintended specialty in my landscape photography of photos of coral tree flowers. (Such as this new one.)

I'm on vacation this week, so today I decided to drive out to the City of San Diego's Lake Murray, a water reservoir and recreational area.

My first thought for the visit was to get in a good exercise walk while enjoying the sights of the lake, but I also brought along my point-and-shoot camera in case I came upon anything that attracted me for photo purposes. (Might post more of them later in the week.)

So, I found one coral tree, and it was blooming flowers like crazy in only one section of it's branches. I have no clue why flowers would be growing in that manner, but there they were, so I took several exposures

Also took several shots of the lake with intent to generate a panorama. (By using Hugin, but the result was unsatisfactory, due to my letting the camera drift up and down too much.)

Can anyone identify these trees?

Please follow this link to see a set of photos of trees in San Diego, especially the flowers growing on them. I have been unable to identify what tree this is.

Any help in identifying these trees will be appreciated!

What's not to trust? - Vehicles as billboards

I frequently visit San Diego's Mission Valley, as it has lots of dining and shopping options, and also good places for exercise walks. Oh, and it's also reasonably close to home.

Now, for quite a while I've been noticing in that area vehicles being used as billboards, but a new one (for me) that I saw today was the impetus I needed to take photos and write an entry here.

(All phone numbers displayed on vehicles intentionally blurred to protect the guilty.)

That vehicle was this:
Now does that inspire trust or what? Eh? Eh?

Sheesh. I did a double-take when I initially drove past this and just had to go back and get the photo. (It was parked close to the southeast corner of this intersection.)

And after taking that first photo I was reminded of the variety of vehicle as billboard that I have been seeing for quite some time in Mission Valley. Which is this:
I seem to recall once reading somewhere (don't recall just where) a comment about this van that went along the lines of: "What's the deal here? Get in the van and five minutes later you're divorced?" Indeed.

When I took that last photo, parked just ahead of it was this:
At least this is a real nice paint job! (619 is one of the phone area codes in San Diego area. I can only assume that is related to the use here.)

And here is a view of both of these last two vehicles, which were parked next to the building seen in this Google Maps view):
A little later I checked another corner that I have previously seen billboard vehicles at and found another "Fast Divorce", which was almost at the southwest corner of this intersection):
I don't know about anybody else, but these "Fast Divorce" billboard vehicles have always given me a slightly sleazy impression.

Huh?

Arrived at the San Diego Trolley system's station at Qualcomm Stadium a little after 8:30 AM today to take the ride to the Convention Center for the first day of Comic-Con.

This station is elevated above the Stadium's parking lot, which basically means one can possibly park under the structure of the station itself. I've gotten into the habit of doing so under the eastern section of the structure. But when I approached that area this morning, I was waved off by security guards, which was the first surprise. So, I went around to the western section to park and proceeded into the station.

Next surprise was after purchasing a trolley boarding pass for the four days of Comic-Con. I spotted several police SWAT officers exiting their vehicle, which had parked under the western area of the station's structure.

I then spotted several men walking away from the station to a position where they lined up and each placed his hands on top of his head with fingers interlaced, a position I equate with the person being arrested.

So, I'm wondering: What is going on here?

I glanced back towards the men 2 or 3 minutes later and saw all of them drop their hands from their heads, walk over to another spot, and then huddle up for what was obviously some sort of discussion.

That's when the light came on: This must have all been some sort of police training exercise!

Comic-Con 2008 approaches

Image by boooooooorbs via Flickr

As a follow-up to this post, and my comments in it that an option for three-day registrations would be available for the 2008 edition of San Diego Comic-Con: WRONG.

I have no idea if I misinterpreted what was written in the booklet I mentioned in the earlier post, or if there was a change in policy, but turns out three-day registrations are not being offered for this year after all. Which I think is unfortunate.

Due to various factors I won't get into here, up until recently I had thought I wasn't going to have enough free time to attend more than one day this year, but circumstances shifted. So:

• I bought a four-day membership.
• Will plan on trying to get most of my shopping done during preview night.
• Will skip going Saturday.
• And will try to plan out in advance what panels and events to go to Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.
• On top of all that I've reserved a vacation day for the Monday after to help ensure I've recovered from it all before going back to my job.

Found Lily

Here's a photo of my own that I'm particularly pleased with:















The story on this - Last week while out for a walk a splash of color on the ground caught my eye as I passed. I stopped and looked at it; there was this (at the time) mostly still fresh lily laying among lots of dead leaves. The contrast between the colors of the flower, the dead leaves, and the concrete really struck me.

I had my camera with me, so I took several pictures, and this is the one I thought came out best.

I am planning to get it commercially printed and mounted on a display board in order to enter it in next year's photo contest at the San Diego County Fair, aka Del Mar Fair. (The original exposure out of the camera is twice the size of what you see in the linked page. I set the camera to give me it's maximum exposure for the lily pictures, as it did occur to me at the time I might want to get a real good print made.)

Comic-Con 2007

For job-related reasons I was only able to attend the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con on the weekend sessions (July 28 and 29). After last year's nasty experience with the Saturday session, I knew I didn't want to do that again any time soon. So, I made an on-line registration for July 29.

Related to that, I was pleased to see in the final information booklet the Comic-Con organization mailed out for this year's convention that as a direct result of the many complaints they had received about conditions during Saturday sessions they had created a new registration choice: A three-day registration option for the Thursday, Friday, and Sunday sessions. This new option includes eligibility for entry to the Wednesday preview night in the exhibits hall, which previously was only available to those who registered for all four days.

Assuming I do have the time available next year, I will definitely use the three-day registration option.

Now, getting to what occurred July 29. The one panel I definitely wanted to go to was one in the morning that was going to discuss the life and work of the late comics artist Jack Kirby. I was especially attracted to this panel because it was going to include Neil Gaiman, who has become one of my favorite writers, both of graphic novels and prose novels and stories. I have recently read his graphic novel Eternals, which is based on ideas and art by Jack Kirby.

I must admit to not having experienced (to my knowledge) Kirby's art, but the Gaiman tie-in was enough of an attraction to make me interested in this panel.

The panel was composed of writer Mark Evanier (who moderated), Gaiman, artist Erik Larsen , writer and artist Darwyn Cooke, and the attorney for Kirby's estate, Paul Levine. Gaiman has a reputation for normally dressing entirely in black, and that held true here. Here is a photo I took of Evanier, Gaiman, and Larsen:


(Apologies about the bad photo - turned out I had my camera incorrectly set for the lighting in the room.)

Before starting the panel discussion Evanier went into the audience to introduce a few people who knew Kirby in person, including his daughter Lisa, who is executer of his estate.

The discussion was very interesting for the fondness and enthusiasm the participants very clearly have for Kirby and his work. Gaiman talked about his working from concepts and characters Kirby had created to write the script for Eternals.

I was interested to note before and after this panel that the area that most of the rooms that panel discussions are held in had been set-up with an eye to improving the flow of foot traffic - this was new for 2007. This area has four corridors that run it's length; they were set-up to alternate as entry and exit corridors, and convention center and security personnel were enforcing their being used as such. I saw there was still a tendency (which I had seen in previous years) for groups to stop and congregate in the corridors for discussions, which can be somewhat disruptive to foot traffic, but I think the basic idea of alternating entry and exit corridors was working.

After completion of the panel about Jack Kirby I went to the Convention Center's Sails Pavilion to sit down at the large number of tables and chairs that are always set up in one area for Comic-Con and ate the lunch I had brought with me.

My plan was to then venture down to the exhibit hall floor and browse the large booths a couple book stores set up each year. One of those booths, for Mile High Comics (which has the same prime location in the exhibit hall every year, right inside some of the main entrance doors) was full with a solid wall of people. The other one, for Comic Relief, was much less jammed so I entered it to look for titles I was interested in, and found nothing. I had thought it likely that was going to be the case, what with all the previous days people would have had to go through the stock these stores had brought, but had thought I might as well try. After that I decided to do some wandering of the hall to see what might catch my eye for photo taking.


The crowds seemed to be just about as heavy as I've experienced in the exhibit hall in previous years.


Full-size statue of Jabba the Hutt, with a model posing as captive Princess Leia.


It's Batman. Made entirely of Legos.


I guess some people just had to touch it to prove to themselves those were Legos!


A Legos Transformer.

One resolution I made after this visit to the exhibit hall is that if I do indeed use the three-day registration next year, I'll probably get the bulk of my shopping and looking around the hall done during the preview night!

After that the only other plan I had was to go to the playing of a video record of the convention's annual masquerade, which occurs Saturday night each year. The manager of the masquerade and some people who work for him took a few questions and complaints (and responded to them) from people who had participated in it the night before, then ran the recording. This was fun, but during it I developed a really nasty headache for some reason, and decided to leave before it ended.

That wraps up this report!

That was quick, or, good work, oh city

I've been noticing for a several days that a traffic light on my usual route to my workplace has not been displaying the red. It's a redundant light, so I haven't been real worried about it. (There's another one just a few feet away that points in the same direction.)

But this morning I decided it was time to report it to San Diego's Street Division via the City's web site. (This page links to ways to report problems on city streets; I've used it before to report pot holes.) So, I sent that in shortly after getting to my job.

Just a few minutes ago while I was out for an exercise walk, I went past the intersection this traffic light is at. I looked at it, and whoa! The red was displaying. That startled me, but I must assume reports of problems with traffic lights are treated as high priorities.

Rocked and Rolled

Earlier this month I volunteered at a function related to the annual "Rock 'n' Roll Marathon" here in San Diego.

Specifically, I volunteered for the Health & Fitness Expo that runs the two days before the marathon, and which is where the marathon participants have to complete their registration process. This occurred at the San Diego Convention Center.

For volunteers each of the two days of the Expo was split into two 6-hour shifts; one could work both the shifts on a given day or just one. (Of course there were also volunteering possibilities during the marathon itself.) I decided to go for the second shift the Saturday before the race.

After myself and the other second shift people had checked in, the volunteer coordinator explained we needed to choose one of two assignments:

• Registration, which allowed for sitting, but would be demanding.
• The souvenir shop (I think that was what she called it) which would be more relaxed but would require staying on one's feet most of the time.

I decided to go with registration. I'’ll need to explain what all that involved. On the registration forms marathon participants had sent in with their entry fee, each one needed to write a prediction of what they felt their overall time for completing the race would be. Based on that, each person was assigned to a "corral", meaning an area behind the starting line. For instance, those who believed they would finish within 3 or 3.5 hours (don't remember which) were put in Corral 1, right at the starting line. At the opposite extreme, those who thought they'd need at least 7 hours were put in the final Corral, number 22, at the back of the pack.

Number bibs for each participant were assigned, again based on the predicted overall times. The bibs for each corral were then placed in a box and placed at the registration station for that corral. I was placed at the registration station for Corral 5.

Each marathon participant should have received beforehand a confirmation card that listed their corral number and bib number. They had to present that card at the registration station for their corral, along with a photo ID.

I would ask for the photo ID if it was not presented with the card, and also had to confirm the waiver statement on the back of the card had been signed and dated, and ask for that to be done when needed. After confirming the photo ID was for the person listed on the card and confirming the waiver had been signed, I would then find that person's number bib and pull it out of the box. I'd then give the person their bib and a packet provided by the firm that organizes and operates the expo and the marathon. I'd then explain that the packet included safety pins (for holding their number bib to their shirt during the race) and ties to use for attaching their timing chip to their shoe during the race. I would then tell the person to proceed down the hall to stations where the timing chips were assigned and activated for each participant. (These chips are triggered to start recording time when they pass under a device at the starting line, and are triggered again to stop recording time when they pass under a device at the finish line. Volunteers at the finish line take the chips off of the shoe the participant attaches it to.)

As the volunteer coordinator said, this was indeed VERY demanding, because my station (and every station) had people coming for their bibs almost continually through almost the entire shift, and frequently had people lined up waiting. And also because I was basically doing and saying the same things over and over.

The organizing firm did it's best to make sure the situation for registration volunteers was not impossibly stressful. They provided bottled water and provided for stations to be covered when one needed a bathroom break. For those volunteers who were there for both shifts that day, a free lunch was also provided, away from the registration area. They also had staff people who were more knowledgeable about the many details of the marathon than volunteers would be expected to be floating around the registration area to answer questions and help with problems.
I think I may have gotten in some photos, because I noticed several times when a family member or friend who was accompanying a marathon participant would produce a camera as I worked with the participant.

Overall, I don't regret deciding to do registration. It was extremely interesting to see from looking at confirmation cards and photo IDs how many different areas of the nation marathoners were coming from, and 99% of the ones I spoke with were very pleasant. But, as it was really demanding, when I left for the day I had a really bad muscle tension headache and felt tired.

I had it easy in high school!

I know I'm really aging myself by bringing this up, but I graduated from high school in 1977. I have been coming to the realization people going to high school in that era had a pretty easy life with regard to being able to graduate, as compared to current students.

First off, there's the California High School Exit Exam. As the site says: "Beginning with the Class of 2006, all public school students will be required to pass the exam to earn a high school diploma." There's been all kinds of publicity about this, at least within the state, so I won't make any comments about it here. Except to say in 1977 there was nothing like that!

Here is the web site for my high school, Patrick Henry. The thing that really caught my attention here was the Portfolio and Exhibition page, which is about graduation requirements set by the San Diego City School District in addition to the state's Exit Exam. This amazes me because, like with the Exit Exam, my class was not required to do anything with any similarity to these Portfolio and Exhibition processes. But, looking through all the details via the links on this page, it occurs to me these procedures might have been a real help for me in preparing for life after high school.

Boom!

Image via Wikipedia

A rare (for the San Diego city area) thunderstorm passed through my area a little earlier this morning. I'm always impressed when that happens; being able to hear the crackle of a lightning bolt instantly followed by the much louder thunder is not easily forgotten!

Unfortunately this particular storm was not carrying much rain with it at all; the area could use more.

Train sense

From time to time San Diego news media has an item related to freight trains moving through the downtown area, so I've been aware that one day I might find myself waiting for one such train to move through whatever downtown spot I found myself at.

That happened yesterday evening. I was attempting to get to a trolley station, and found myself blocked by a freight train that was composed of one engine, followed by 10 lumber-carrying cars, which were followed by what appeared to be about 20 tanker cars, all of which were labeled "liquified petroleum gas" (not gasoline).

So, this train was slowly moving forward through the intersection I needed to cross to get to the trolley station.

Then it stopped and started backing up.

Then it stopped and started forward again.

Then once again it stopped and began to back up! At this point I realized the engineer and whoever he was in contact at the other end of the train must have been trying to back it into a siding or through some sort of other switch.

Myself and the fairly large crowd that had been gathering at the crossing gates were able to get through after the engineer eventually was able to back up enough to get the entire train out of the intersection, but after that he had to do some more back and forth before everything was lined up as needed.

That additional back and forth including one more time of completely backing out of the intersection than moving forward through the intersection again. During that moving forward, I watched an amazing number of people go around and under the crossing gates and cross the tracks as the engine was approaching; the engineer blew the engine's horn continually until that nonsense stopped. That display by multiple people of a total lack of common sense was truly astounding.

Rain? Maybe? Please?

Image via Wikipedia

Clouds have been building up over the San Diego metro area all day; the weather service has been forecasting a slight possibility of thunderstorms getting away from the mountains (where they normally form and dump all their rain this time of year) and moving west to the area's cities (where I am.)

The clouds had been getting thick enough I've been hoping we might actually get a decent amount of rain out of them, as we haven't had any rain to speak of for a few months. But at least for now it's looking like what has and will fall will be so minimal all it'll do is make my car look even dirtier than it did this morning!

Ants (Not in the pants)

Starting to see ants in my bathroom. That's irritating, but not entirely surprising. Just like the last time they first appeared San Diego has not had any rain in quite some time and the weather is getting hot.

I'd like to seal off their access point, of course. During the last bouts of ant invasions, I was able to do just that in my kitchen, but I have yet to find an access point in the bathroom. Will keep trying to do so. In the meantime I've broken out my container of Ortho Home Defense Indoor Insect Killer.

Essential web site for anyone who uses CA freeways

I find this site to be an absolutely vital source of information about Californians freeways: The CHP Traffic Incident Information Page.

For anyone who hasn't used it, the basic way it works is that it displays currently active incidents in each of the California Highway Patrol's regions throughout the state. CHP dispatchers in each region's Traffic Management Center enter comments and information about each incident into the CHP's Computer Assisted Dispatching system, and as these items are entered they are reflected on this site in real time.

For instance, as I am typing up this post, this site is showing for the San Diego region:

• 1 non-injury hit-and-run
• 6 traffic collisions
• and 1 traffic hazard.

The way the site works is that it is set up in 3 horizontal frames. The top frame is where one selects what information is to be displayed. For instance, if you want to see current incidents in the Los Angeles area, use the drop down menu titled "Areas" to select "Los Angeles" and that brings up in the middle frame a list of the current incidents. Click the "Type" line for a given incident, and you see in the bottom frame whatever has been typed up about it by the area dispatchers. Sometime no details will be displayed after clicking the "Type" link; this usually just means it is a brand new entry.

NOTE: The details about an incident will usually use CHP codes that designate certain situations or certain things to be done. Some browsers will display a dotted line under these codes. Hover your mouse cursor over such a line, and a little pop-up shows what the code means. If your browser does not do that, you have to go the "Glossary" entry in the "Resources" drop down menu. (For instance, 1039 means "Message or Item Delivered"; this code seems to normally be used to indicate a telephone call was made.) The Glossary also explains most of the abbreviations that are used in the incident details.

All in all, this site is incredibly valuable for trip planning, especially for checking on road conditions just before you leave.