DanT1999

Tuesday, January 31

1) This week feels like a big transition in my work life with more responsibility. It’s kind of overwhelming…

2) I heard Mitt Romney’s victory speech after the Florida Republican primary results came out… He sounded like a president, and frankly I liked what I heard in his speech a lot more than what I heard in Obama’s state of the union address last week. I do want to be careful not to be swayed by a candidate’s slick oratory this time, and I still don’t have an idea of how I’ll vote in November… This is the first presidential election that I can think of where I’ve been undecided at this stage…

3) Going to bed early…

Monday, January 30

1) I had to be at work early today, so I made it in a lot earlier than normal. I was impressed I was able to do that…

2) I took the new employee out to lunch today…

3) Running after work. It was a busy, stressful day so it was a good way to unwind…

Sunday, January 29

1) I went birding and hiking this morning at Placerita Canyon State Park. I specifically went there to get Steller’s Jay on my 2012 year list, but I was pleasantly surprised to also find a white-throated sparrow, a less common visitor to California and not just a new addition to my year list but also to my life list…

2) Having lunch with Andrew at Follow Your Heart, the vegetarian restaurant and health food store in Canoga Park…

3) I was walking along the jetties at Playa del Rey this afternoon, and a woman walked by in the opposite direction listening to headphones and singing along to Ja sei namorar, the song that maromera included in her birthday greeting to me a couple of years ago… It’s a good song, I’m glad other people around here know it…

Saturday, January 28

1) Birding early this morning at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area near Irwindale… With its wide range of habitat in a small area including lake, marsh, park, open space and desert, I’ve found this a productive place to visit the past couple of Januarys in terms of adding birds to my year lists. Today was no different as I was able to add six species to my 2012 list including mountain bluebird, vesper sparrow, cackling goose, rock wren, cactus wren, and white-throated swift…

2) My next birding stop in the afternoon was at Malibu Lagoon. It was such a beautiful summer-like day (see the collage of photos I took) that the beach was crowded which meant that the birding would be slow. I still enjoyed it though, and I did get to see a few black oystercatcher which I don’t usually see at this particular location…

3) I found myself among the runners in a photo advertisement for the Melbourne & Beaches Music Marathon which is taking place next week. It was so cool to be featured in the ad. I ran the half marathon last year, and it was so fun. Maybe I’ll go back to Melbourne sometime to run it again…

(Sialia currucoides) I shot this photo on the morning of Saturday, January 28, 2012 at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area near Irwindale, California. The mountain bluebird is my favorite of the bluebirds, especially the males, like the bird in the photograph. Western and eastern bluebirds have a lot of red on their chests, but male mountain bluebirds are a brilliant monochromatic sky blue. The females are drab and mostly grayish, but I find them quite striking too. If anyone is interested, I will post a photograph of a female I shot on the same day. I have been trying to photograph mountain bluebirds for a while now with not much success as previously I have only had fleeting glimpses of them while driving around the high desert or hiking near Mammoth Lakes. Mountain bluebirds are very uncommon winter visitors to the Los Angeles basin, so I was happy to be able to easily find them this year in the San Gabriel Valley.

Mountain bluebirds are found in western North America, breeding in the Great Basin states on up to Alaska and wintering in the southwestern states down through Mexico. They prefer open space habitats especially at higher elevations where they feed mostly on insects and small fruits. The mountain bluebird is the state bird of Idaho and Nevada.

Friday, January 27

1) I was not better yet but definitely improving. I felt relieved when I woke up that the worst of this cold was over…

2) Dinner at the Pita Kitchen in Sherman Oaks, my favorite restaurant where they make the best falafel, while skimming the latest issue of The Economist...

3) Having a glass of wine before going to bed, the Baron Herzog wine La Jeunesse. It almost tastes like grape juice…

Thursday, January 26

1) I was still sick today but at least not getting worse. I was glad this didn’t seem to be the kind of debilitating cold I had last November where I was practically bedridden for a day…

2) I completed the work I needed to do to get a new employee, who would be starting next week, set up…

3) Spicy pad kee mao from Prael Restaurant for dinner while watching reruns of “The Big Bang Theory”...

Wednesday, January 25

1) If I thought I was getting sick yesterday, I woke up positively sick today but fortunately could still force myself to be productive…

2) Another evening not doing much, just relaxing, drinking lots of fluids and hoping to recover quickly…

3) Listening to a song by the band 10cm called Tonight, I’m afraid of the dark. Listen to it if you get a chance. I like the vulnerability in the lyrics. I used to feel what is described in the song quite often, but I don’t really feel that way now…

Tuesday, January 24

1) During a before work stop at Lake Balboa, as I stood still looking through binoculars to see if there were any interesting birds in the distance I found myself being accosted by a flock American coots (see the photo I took). They probably thought I had food…

2) I felt like I might be getting a cold, so for lunch I drank a smoothie from Robek’s with immunity boost. Sometimes I find loading up on vitamin C helps, but not always. After 3 and a half years of avoiding colds, it seems that since last November I catch whatever is going around at the office…

3) I had hoped to run after work today, but opted instead just to go home and rest. I figured it wasn’t a good idea to put the stress of running on my body if I thought I was about to get sick…