Friday night was the Celebrate LA downtown block party. A bit of a security line, but not too bad.
Amazing costumes.
Native American dancers.
So cute.
They had to figure out where to put all of the important people.
A camera on a stick to get over the crowd.
Secret service agents.
That would be nice to have.
President Bill Clinton and Mayor-Elect Eric Garcetti.
Ryan Seacrest, Stevie Wonder, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, President Bill Clinton, and Mayor-Elect Eric Garcetti.
LA County Supervisor Gloria Molina, LA City Council president Herb Wesson, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Mayor-Elect Eric Garcetti.
Placido Domingo.
Ryan Seacrest.
The crowd.
The other way.
Listening intently.
Shadows of people on the fabric in front of the stage.
Mayor Villaraigosa speaking with Mayor-Elect Garcetti in the background.
Stevie Wonder.
Most of the important people had left by this point, but Mayor Villaraigosa stayed to listen to Stevie Wonder.
He even pulled out his cell phone and made a video while dancing. Fun guy.
After Wanda Sykes told some jokes, Mayor Villaraigosa danced with her a bit.
A spanish band.
There were a lot of people on blankets.
Pretty view.
Making a painting with everyone's fingerprints.
A huge line. I wonder what it's for? Oh, just some free nachos. Definitely not worth the wait.
City Hall.
A cooking demonstration.
The clock on the LA Times building.
Looking towards the Second Street bridge.
A cutout mural.
A painted one on the Olympics.
Interesting staircase at a recovery / drug-free zone.
A tiny spot for this street vendor.
Amazingly-good burgers and fries and dessert at The Counter.
That's a nerdy plate.
I almost gave the server the top copy. Thankfully I caught my math mistake and fixed it.
A cute painting of pigs jumping into a lake.
Funny name for a restaurant.
Cappy's Cafe and Cantina, very good breakfast spot.
Terrible belle.
The Goodwill Blimp lands by the 405 and 110 intersection.
Shiny gold car.
Loving music.
I wonder if it's a medical marijuana doctor?
Sexy Toy on a Porsche.
Putting the dogs on the window is cheating. Their license plate is create, and they're creating lots of kids.
Aw, the turtles are way cooler than the stick figures.
I like the bows on the female skulls.
We went down to the Palos Verdes Street Fair. It was billed as the largest fair in the south bay, so I was expecting it to be similar in size to the LA County Fair, but it was tiny in comparison.
"There are a bunch of kids on this one... I think we can beat them."
Yep.
Angry Birds ripoff.
I can understand why they do this, but it's still sad.
A carnival staple.
Ready to go.
Having fun.
And all the way upside down on this ride.
I'd rather trust in an engineer than Jesus to make sure nothing goes wrong.
On the ferris wheel.
A young band.
Those look fun.
Pretty photos, but way oversaturated. Then again, that does catch people's eyes.
Lots of metal sculptures.
Time for some food.
Really cool metal sculptures.
Love the angler fish.
Neat 3D artwork.
Time for some more carnival games.
This is my kind of game. Some of the others we spent $5 for 3 balls to throw; this one you got a whole bucket.
I made one, but the clear cups don't get you a prize.
This little girl was having fun.
Hammer time. I had to only use one hand because it was a kid's game.
Yeah, I'm a winner!
Ogii gives it a go.
Another band.
She found $10 on the ground, lucky day.
I love petting zoos.
Aw, they've already put away most of the animals.
We parked in a separate lot and took a shuttle bus there, but it was only like three blocks away, so we just walked back.
While we were down there we went and checked out the ocean.
There were lots of really nice houses.
This one had some bunnies in the front.
Really?
Owen family.
I remember this McDonald's because of the N64 playground.
LA weasel? Or maybe the "w" goes with both and it's law weasel.
A bouncy castle barbeque in Griffith Park.
A few guys with guitars.
A lot of people showed up.
Pretty paint job.
Sunday evening was poker. I had a full house, but Elizabeth had four of a kind. That hurt.
Another big pot she won, this time with three total players.
The big winner of the night.
Washing my ski boots. I taped pillows around them.
I washed some of my bags, but it ruined the stiff bottom part. I guess they're made out of cardboard.
A patient mentioned he worked here, so I checked it out.
Pretty cool inside.
And excellent food.
These fans are really neat.
The gas pump didn't give me a receipt. I grabbed my pen and teased it out. Apparently it had been backed up for a while because I got like 20 other receipts.
A cricket was in the office. I went to take him outside and he jumped on my pant leg. Now I don't even have to touch him; perfect.
All that packaging for a single small paddle.
I wanted the kids menu with a cookie. The clerk kept saying I couldn't get a cookie, only a toy. I kept pointing at the sign and saying it specifically says I can choose my treat, but she wouldn't listen. :(
The right parking space is really narrow, but I'm skinny, so I can slip out if I park there.
A lot of people take up both spaces, though.
One of my patients paid me in cologne for his exam. He had actually asked me at a previous visit which brand was my favorite, so props to him for remembering.
Jerk taking up two spaces.
A guy charging his phone at a random outlet on the sidewalk.
Marshall's sometimes has super cool wrapping paper for really cheap.
Oh, no, a curly fry fell here. Try to get it carefully, arg! I pushed it down into the hole. Now I have to wait until I stop and fish it out.
That's nice, a syringe and needle in the parking lot.
I bought a new camera and I hate the new battery charger. The old one on the left plugged right into the outlet. The new one on the right has a cord you have to use, so more crap I have to fit in the bag.
Sunday morning was the Los Angeles County Optometric Society (LACOS) continuing education meeting.
First up was Steven Ferrucci talking about nutritional options for AMD.
Next was Robert Maloney on advances in cataract surgery.
A break to speak with the sponsors.
The other side.
And some more.
Paul Dougherty talking about an update on refractive technology.
Catherine Hwang on periorbital rejuvenation.
And finally ocular disease Jeopardy by Robert Yacoub.
A raffle at the end.
The big winner of the iPod mini.
I don't know why Google Maps would choose a route that takes 20 minutes longer as the default.
The Gmail app on my phone was updated. Instead of useful checkboxes on the left, there's now boxes that shows the picture of the sender or a letter. It's much less efficient to mass delete or move emails now. I guess they're taking the Apple route of form over function.