Scratches on the subway window

 

Big Pimpin'

This is the car I rented on the East Coast. It was hilarious. And fun. 

Special K in the window

 

Lloyd Bentsen: "You're no Jack Kennedy"

LB to Dan Quayle in the 1988 vice presidential debate:

Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.

RIP, Lloyd Bentsen.

Coney Island

One of my favorite places anywhere. Ever. 

the nocebo effect

According to this article, the nocebo effect is pain in response to the expectation of injury, the converse of the placebo effect. Apparently (according to wikipedia and other web sources) "nocebo" isn't just a clever re-working of a familiar word, but means "I shall harm" in latin. And "placebo" means "I shall please." Dude, I'm getting my knowledge on!

HC thinks I have a very active nocebo response. I'm sure she's right.

Did I use "converse" correctly in that first paragraph? Probably not. I think the converse of the placebo effect (aleviation of pain in response to an inactive treatment) would be a treatment in response of aleviation of pain. The converse is the inversion in relation. The obverse is taking the opposite of two conditions. Maybe the obverse of the placebo effect (aleviation of pain in response to an inactive treatment) would be iatrogenic (doctor-caused) pain, an increase in pain in response to an active treatment. The contrapositive, is a combination of the two, an an active treatment in response to an increase in pain, or business as usual. Wikipedia describes nocebo as the reverse of the placebo. Seems altogether too simple.

Arroyo Seco

Pretty. Urban. 

Urban escape

Mac and I dropped into a quiet arroyo today. It was a hot day, but this little piece of shade was nice. 

Blue Parrot Man

Remember him? He's been spotted again.

farmer's market

Yesterday AR took me to the Pasadena Victory Park Farmer's Market. It reminded me of when my route from work to the bus after work in Seattle took me through Pike Place Market. There were rows and rows of produce stalls, and I would pick up what I needed for the night. I wasn't feeling the produce purchasing yesterday, but AR pressed a quart of strawberries on me, and they were amazing. So ripe you didn't think they could get riper. You could almost taste the dirt on them. Next week, hopefully I'll be more in the mood to stock my produce larder. 

the delight of a child? nauseating.

if i want indiscriminate sentimentalism with my food, i'll get my own side of hallmark, thank you very much?

Eaton Canyon

A denuded yucca, high above the burbs of the San Gabriel Valley. The air here has been miserable. I've been running outside, which has its own rewards, but I can feel my lungs fighting the junk in the air.

symphony: tremendous

i'm not a huge symphony person, but i really enjoyed this performance by the LA philharmonic at the walt disney concert hall. it was my first visit to the hall, and it was all that a person could expect. it also indicates how seriously angelenos take their cars: the beautiful and expensive design started the minute you stepped from the parking garage floor into what, in another city, would have been a stairwell. instead it was a large open set of escalators and stairs. i'm a total fool for beethoven, and the 7th and 8th symphonies were fantastic. there was also a new piece by anders hillborg which i wasn't crazy about. my fellow concert goers (from my lab) liked it a lot; they also said that the wonderfulness of the concert was in no small part due to the conducting of esa-pekka salonen, but i didn't have anything to compare it to.

Map My Run

Map My Run is a very cool tool. It uses Google maps to plot your run; you click on the turns and it calculates distance. If you add time and personal info, it calculates pace and calories burned. Sweet!