/mike

Efforts to ban big box retailers like Walmart and Costco in LA are gaining momentum, according to an article linked in Planetizen. Often, the argument against such businesses are to protect “Mom and Pop” stores. I’m not convinced by this argument. The market should be the primary judge of which businesses survive or die out. As a general rule, if someone can do something better, they should not be punished because another person has more history. But there are other more compelling arguments too.

On a related issue, San Pedro residents are concerned about chains (Starbucks, etc.) taking over local businesses during our waterfront and downtown revitalization efforts. A community needs established brands to start the ball rolling, but if the right balance is not struck, an area will lose its distinctive character and potentially reduce its long-term draw. This is a line of reasoning I can understand.

For example: In San Francisco, Cindy and I visited the Haight/Ashbury district explicitly for their fairly unique skateboarding stores. If it simply had the same mix of businesses available at Old Town Pasadena, we wouldn’t have made the trip.

The majority of urban planning jobs are in government, but I believe that it is the master planning consultants who have the best jobs in the industry.

I was thinking about this last night while watching a presentation during a redevelopment meeting. The consultants that we hired were presenting some of their proposed plans for the waterfront and adjacent downtown.

The big picture is to create a successful destination in San Pedro or in simpler terms, a water oriented Old Town Pasadena/Third Street Promenade in the South Bay. The strategy is to create the infrastructure, public spaces, and initial project that will get the market rolling in the area. This includes land use planning, street alignments, parking, urban design, and landscape design.

While I am involved in the overall process, the majority of my duties have to do with getting through the bureaucracy alive and on time. I worry about the planning code and coastal act, including the many applications, public hearings, staff recommendations, decisions, and appeals that are all part of the process. My side of things is decidedly not glamorous, but it's cool to be on the team. I never thought I'd make the cut in the first place.

Today is special for me because I officially passed probation. I get a humble raise and civil service protection.

There was a potluck today too. I brought in 12 california rolls (or 96 pieces). In retrospect, 8 would have been plenty.

More good news: David Eckstein (geek shortstop for the Angels) is dating Ashley Drane!

Part of being my Father's son is wanting to take on his good AND bad personality traits. It is a twisted kind of tribute. Obviously, this is demented. In my mind I know to look towards Christ, but my heart drifts and I look to others.

But of course, those that want to be like their father don't necessarily get there, do they? Isn't the one who fights and resents their parents the ones who become just like them? Part of the persona is not to admire John Wayne but instead just be the Duke.

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I've always been hyper-aware of the dynamics in my family's interactions. Today, it warms my heart just to hear my parents enjoying a simple laugh together.

Did you know that:

a. The Port of LA is not only the #1 containerport in the nation, we also import the most bulk steel. In 2002, we handled 1.4 million metric tons of steel, or 40% of all West Coast imports.

b. There are crazy eyed, hippie ladies riding around Venice beach enforcing the bike only lane regulation, even when the beach is fairly empty. /mike told one such person off this past weekend. She subsequently threatened me with a traffic ticket. Her job is pathetic but I definitely need to watch my temper.

The velcro on my messenger bag is ruining all my ties!

Despite my own efforts, I believe that the holy spirit has nudged into my subconscious because I've had worship songs stuck in my head for the last two mornings.

For a while, I was concered about establishing myself in the division. The more they need me, the more I won't be let go right? Well I got my wish. I feel like I've got a million different projects running round my head. They aren't necessarily the glamourous types, but I'm glad to have them.

Unrelated, I was looking through my schedule today feeling very confused. After 15 mintues, I went to Rhonda and asked, Why does my calendar say that today is Tuesday? Is yours broken too? We all had a good laugh at that one.

Sorry my most recent posts weren't up. There was just a little work done on cham.net last week.

This weekend was loads of fun. I threw a LOTR Risk party, which turned out to be a lot of fun. I want to throw more parties now!

Last night I had the catfish dinner at Mr. Cecil's California Ribs, which was tasty but too pricey.

I can't believe that I almost didn't go! Richard Foster is a hero of mine. And there was no way that a Christian conference would refuse to let me in just because I was late.

Anyway, it was awesome. And Siang-Yang Tan of FEC, Glendale was impressive too.

Aw man, I missed the Renovare conference registration and I'm also in second place in fantasy basketball!

I just found my wallet. I had left it in my black cords. It had been lost for a week, and I have been getting my by spending my rolled up coin collection that I was planning on taking to the bank. I used to have over a hundred dollars in coins.

I held out for a while, but finally caught a bad case of the flu last week. While I was sick, all I had for sustenance was hot water mixed with lemonade. Now, when a guy only has liquid to eat, there is major potential for bad things to happen. It happened to me.

I was completely delirious from my congested sinuses, body aches, and shivers. I swear I thought it was gas. Boy was I wrong. Luckily I realized my mistake quickly. After taking care of business, I somehow got fixated on the idea of prunes. I don't typically eat them, but I told myself that dried prunes would solve all my problems. My family usually keeps some in the fridge so I started rummaging through all our food. I couldn't find anything except for a bag of Costco dried fruit. I took the bag upstairs with me and went back to sleep, chewing on the prunes and apricots I picked out. Eventually I pretty much emptied the bag, except for the dried bananas, which for some reason really disgusted me (remember, I was deliriously sick).

A few days later, I was telling my crazy story to my brother. We were sitting in my room laughing at the leftover bag of dried fruit, when I saw a label that said best eaten by 9/2003.

Epilogue: I told my story over dinner and my Mom pointed out that we do have prunes in the fridge. They were in front of me the entire time and I looked right past them.

Cindy wanted me to tell this story. Unfortunately, it has to be censored a bit because this is a familiy establishment. I've tested the anecdote out at work and it went alright, so I'll go ahead and give it here. You can always get the nasty version from me in person.

All throughout the holiday season, I pleasantly surprised myself with my ability to stay healthy. We went out quite a bit and with all the holiday stress, I assumed that I was sure to get sick. Well I didn't.

Ut oh. I gotta get dinner now. I'll finish this later...

"We're here to win the AL West, we'll make no bones about what we're here to do," Stoneman said. "We know the game's played on the field, but anything short of a pennant in the AL West is going to be a little disappointing."

One of the things I've done ever since I was a kid, was write an Angels lineup card. I've done it during meetings, sermons, and just throughout the day. Here's what is probably will look like at the home opener (which I will be sure to attend).

David Eckstein
Darin Erstad
Vladimir Guerrero
Garret Anderson
Troy Glaus
Tim Salmon
Jose Guillen
Bengie Molina
Adam Kennedy

While we were in SF, we met up with a friend who is a member of both a book and movie club. These groups get together for the sole purpose of discussing ideas. Oddly, I have found that among my friends, I have increasingly tried to guard my opinions. Isn't that silly?

I've already started talking more with Cindy about some of the movies we've seen. People react to movies (and books) in such different ways, I'm looking forward to expressing my thoughts and better understanding other peoples opinions too. The necessary ingredient is that they want to talk about it too. haha

While the conversation is obviously easier when everyone raves about a movie, talking about something that people disagree on can be more interesting. A good example is The Last Samurai, which I didn't like... well maybe that isn't a good example because I watched a bootleg version during dinner.

Today's church service was really inspiring for me. This is a good start for 2004. I even almost allowed myself to be prayed over, but was too shy.

Pastor John's sermon continued a series of talks about the purpose of Epicenter. One topic was the difference between Mary and Martha. The lesson is for people like Martha to become more like Mary, but I was thinking that I'm hardly either these days. Whatever the case, I'm excited to make some positive changes in this area of my life.

These three links (1, 2, and 3) are all reporting the rumor that the most spectacular young free agent hitter of 2004 has signed with the Angels. Can this be true?

I'm considering reading Macbeth. There are a lot of different publications of the play. I think I'll do a little research before purchasing a copy. Sorting through the Arden edition, I was surprised to read about some controversies. Apparently, there are portions that have potentially been altered, missing or simply not what Shakespeare intended! All of these things are small and probably not very important, considering I'm only a casual reader. Still, it dampened my enthusiasm.

The high level of academic scrutiny and debate reminded me of similar discussion on the Bible. Sometimes I wonder about the continuous stream of bible insights that our hard working academics bring forth. They are exciting but at the same time also very humbling. We Christians can get very specific and nuanced in our theology, and the consequences that sometimes result are not trivial.

I'm serious about getting better as soon as possible, so we made a visit to a local pharmacy. I got myself $17 dollars of cure. It is ridiculous but it was the only one with an active ingredient (Docosanol) that actually treats the cold sore as opposed to simply serving as an antiseptic. If Wendy is right and I'm not the only one in our circle of friends who need this stuff, I'll be happy to share.

I was going on fumes for a while and then totally crashed. I was all messed up but got myself recovered with the one-two punch of serious sleep (15 hours worth straight) and serious medicine (nyquil x2 and some advil flu). I was pleased to have so thoroughly dominated my sickness, but after dinner, I noticed that I now have some cold sores on my bottom lip. They look disgusting. Cold sores are really herpes, you know. They never go away.

Anyway, I got some hard core Chinese medicine from Cindy's Dad and now my lip and tongue are numb.

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Thanks for all the great comments too. Allow me to seriously suggest the one space option. It looks so much cleaner, besides, it's the correct thing to do!

Cindy is the only person who has ever called me on using two spaces after a period. I never knew that we were only supposed to use one. I didn't believe her for the longest time but after some research, I've conceded her point and adopted her suggestion.

I'm back after an enjoyable holiday season, but watch out. My body aches, there's a lot of work to be done, and frankly, I'm not gonna take any shit. This has been most apparent at work, where I have no time for run of the mill turf skirmishes and petty politics.