ahh... i love LA people

June 20, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Magilla and I just got back from the Ralphs over on the corner of 3rd and Vermont. It's a little ways from downtown, but it's pretty much the closest thing we've got. The trip back from there is cool because coming into downtown the eastbound lanes split off to become 4th street, which then proceeds both above and below the normal cross streets, not intersecting one until Olive.

But anyway, this post isn't about 4th street, although it does take place there.

So we're on the way back, on 4th, approaching Spring. The light's green, which means we're starting to slow to wait for pedestrians to clear. Crossing toward us on one of those three wheeled mobility scooters is a big black lady, probably in her 60s. We're slowing as we approach the intersection, but she sees us and starts jokingly waving an arm and a leg like "oh no, jump, i'm going to get hit!" As she passed she was having a good-natured laugh, and turning the corner Magilla and I just looked at each other in confusion. And then we both laughed.

That kind of thing needs to happen randomly more often.

the impossible isn't as rare as it used to be

June 19, 2004 by Eric Richardson

An article on ESPN.com about the Expos and White Sox talks about the two home runs hit by Expos outfielder Juan Rivera -- both in the 2nd inning. I saw that and thought "Wow, that must never happen." Well, I was wrong. Apparently it's not all the uncommon of a thing for a player to hit two home runs in the same inning. To quote the article:

Rivera became the first major league player to hit two homers in one inning since Pittsburgh's Reggie Sanders on Aug. 20.

It was the fifth time a Montreal player hit two homers in the same inning, and first since Mike Lansing did it in the sixth inning of a 19-3 win in San Francisco on May 7, 1997.

[Andre] Dawson accomplished the feat twice for the Expos. His record of six RBI in an innings was set Sept. 24, 1985, in the fifth inning at Wrigley Field against the Cubs.

Crazy. The pitcher who gave up all the runs was making his first major league start. After the game he was sent back down to the minors.

generation next

June 19, 2004 by Eric Richardson

This week's Downtown News has a cool article on Caryn Coleman, who with husband Sean Bonner owns the gallery sixspace and runs art.blogging.la. The article's part of Downtown News' series "Generation Next."

The article should make Sean happy... To quote from a recent post of his:

Since this is continually mistaken in articles written about us, we've felt the need to spell it out a little more clearly. The name of our art gallery is "sixspace" - that's all one word and lowercase. It's an aesthetic choice yes, but one that we'd appreciate you respecting. For some reason writers in the past have felt the need to write it as "SixSpace" or "Six-Space" or as two words and this is painfully incorrect.

The Downtown News correctly writes:

the gallery named sixspace (lower case intentional)

my exercise routine

June 19, 2004 by Eric Richardson

I'm not much of one for going somewhere and working out. I'm lazy, and somehow those two don't quite work out well together. What I will do, though, and what I have done twice in the last two days, is play some ping-pong. We have a table in the gym area on our roof and Wednesday I finally bought a pair of paddles and a six-pack of balls.

Last night Kathy and I played, and she put me to shame. I'm not one to try and make excuses, but I did hit about 75% unforced errors, so I think I beat myself just as much as she beat me.

Today, though, playing Magilla I was a little bit more acurate. The shot's starting to come back and the range finding is getting better. I think a few more days of training and I'll be right back into game shape.

truth in advertising

June 18, 2004 by Eric Richardson

I find it oddly comforting that at the moment I am number one on google for random boring stuff. googlefun also says I'm number one for crossdressing stereotypes assumptions, for which it points people to my gender and the internet essay.