Event Report
20131220-21
The photos below are what we saw.
Our
intention was to start with a dinner at our favorite Italian
restaurant "The GodFather". But our dinner partners had to
abort due to a family medical emergency so we went by
ourselves. As usual, dinner was fantastic but due to the
time of year the place was packed. I conned the owner into
taking the photo above. Kathleen looked great in her
low-cut cocktail dress.
The next
day, Saturday, we had a number of things on tap. While we
were waiting for the first event, we heard noises outside so I
went to investigate. The SDFD had a rig and a few
personnel out in the street for a training exercise.
I spoke
with captain of the truck and he told me that this was a
defensive tool and it could be mounted on the top of the truck
or detached (as shown) and deployed remotely. This is an
adjustable nozzle and is pointed my moving the nozzle manually
or via the control wheel. Nozzle components can be removed
from the exit end to adjust the volume/distance of water.
Note the sledge hammer. There are spikes on the mount that
must be driven into the asphalt to prevent the device from
tipping over due to the force from the water pressure.
We were
told to stand clear and the device was energized. It
produced a nice, tight stream.
The
stream was perhaps 100 feet.
Next
came the manually handled nozzles. Since the hoses are
large and the pressure is high, plenty of force is generated by
the water passing through the nozzle and it must be controlled
with sufficient grip strength. If you were to lose your
grip of the nozzle it would turn into a flail with many pounds
of brass fittings whipping through the air causing grave risk to
anybody that gets in its way.
My
virtual daughter Jessica announced that she got married to
Hussein. They both came over to be part of the Jones'
family Christmas party that were were attending via Skype.
Sadly, one of the party-goers changed an adjustment on the
camera and I did not notice it until later that caused most of
the photos to be overexposed. The photo above of Jessica
and I was one of the survivors. She towers over me when in
her heels.
Jessica
is a long way from the 19 year-old girl that came to live with
us back in the 1990s. Now she is a mother with a step
child, but still just as beautiful and vivacious.
Next up
was a tree-trimming party at our friend Steve Anderson's place
in Mission Hills. We arrived and spotted several houses
just down the block that were lit up, so I walked down to see
how the camera would handle a night shot without a tripod.
While not the best shot ever, the photo above was taken at an
exposure time of 1/3 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 1600 HANDHELD and
turned out wholly acceptable. Usually, the lower limit for
a handheld exposure is 1/60 second. This is a great
demonstration of the power of the 5-axis sensor stabilization of
the Olympus OM-D E-M1 camera.
My
long-time friend Steve purchased his most recent home in Mission
Hills. It was a nice place and then he worked it over
resulting in a REALLY nice place. Above is family room and
entrance to master bedroom.
The kitchen has a
nice, functional layout, granite counters and new appliances.
The
casual dinner area has a 4" thick butcher block table.
Steve
purchased this awesome custom table made from a single slab of
acacia tree. Note the checking in the far end of the
surface that is held together with wooden "bow ties".
The
living room also has a nice gas fireplace.
Contrary
to popular opinion, the objective for the night was not just to
gorge on wine and food but included trimming the tree. I
was able to get the group to stop long enough to have them face
me.
Steve
has known Roger and Janet since his M/A-Com days.
When we
finished trimming and the food was ready, we filled our plates
and went at it. We had spiral cut ham, green bean
casserole, yams and escalloped potatoes and it was great.
I have
known Steve since college where we were both in EE school
together. That would be 40 years by my count.
No
Christmas Eve would be complete without a trip to our dear
friends Kai and Tina's for a prime rib dinner. Kai does a
great job with the BBQ and the prime rib was awesome.
After Kai's cooking
duties were completed and dinner was over, we all got a chance
to chat before the gift exchange. Kai and Tony were
emphatically discussing something important.
The children were very excited by the presents, particularly
little Lucas.
Pam and
Tony got gift cards; always useful.
Lucas
was very happy about his bow and arrow set. The rest of us
ran for cover.
Watching
folks have fun is fun as well.
Anthony and I were just chilling.
Copyright Bill Caid 2013. All rights reserved.