While The House Slept...

 Since I'm usually the first one up in the household, I took the opportunity to record what the house looked like on Christmas morning, bright and early.

 Well, well, well.  Santa has been here!

 A bike and workbench for Troy.

 A car ramp and bike for Teo.

 Holiday cards on the bar.

Presents under the tree.

 Stockings hung on the fireplace, guarded by ninjas.

 Zander, do you remember giving us this?  It is still on our fridge.

And now,  time for the house to awake...

GSV World Glimpse: San Diego Skaterz

 I was looking at Google Street View to research airport parking (it changes often) when I came across these frames of a group of teen skaters coming down the hill.

 It was an interesting glimpse into their world, the way they dress, the packs they run in.

 It basically is a way for young teen males to rebel.

 This guy has the rebel look down.  Backwards cap, cigarette, ripped jeans, long hair.

GSV World Glimpses - First Posting

 Sometimes when a world event happens, I will hop on Google Street View to examine the circumstances, or at least the landscape, around that event.  Today, I've decided to start sharing what I find on my blog.  This is the first of what may become a regular posting:  GSV World Glimpses.

Today's topic:  the murder of NYC officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.  On the surface, this appears to be caused by the police/black youth deaths making headlines, but closer examination shows it really was just the work of a mentally unstable person who used that as cover.

To those of us not from the area where the event took place, it is easy to conjure up dark pictures in our mind of the neighborhood.  I won't pass judgement on whether or not the neighborhood is desireable, but will show a few glimpses into it.

 Here is the corner where the officers were murdered.  The Durango behind the red SUV is the rough location where the police car sat.

 A close shot of that same location.

 A typical street scene about two blocks away.

It should be noted that virtually everyone - including residents in this neighborhood - where shocked and condemn the actions of the mentally unstable gunman.

 Also about two blocks away, local kids playing in water on a hot summer day.   This must be a fairly typical occurrence in NYC because I've run across scenes like this in NYC with GSV though I don't look at NYC that often.

 Also about two blocks away.  A father holding the hand of his son while checking traffic to cross the street mid-block.  Families in urban areas are no different that families in rural or suburban areas.

 A closer look.  Note the store in the background.  Many signs in the windows say "I heart big cans.".   Classy.

 In the other direction about a block from the original corner.  The shiny metal fence drew my attention.  Why was it placed there?  Across the street to the right is a housing project.  Could the owner have grown tired of loiterers?

 Man is that fence shiny and ornate!

 Another view yields a potential other explanation.  Note that is neighbor to the left may use the curb drop in front of the rightmost home to drive up to their unit, since there is not a curb drop in front of their house.  Perhaps the rightmost unit grew tired of cars angled over onto their property.  Just a guess.

 Another interesting thing: the far left unit appears to be in progress building their own fence!

 Up it goes!

 Could it be a similar situation?  The curb drop is in front of his house, possibly used by his neighbor and causing cars to angle into his area?  Or perhaps that basketball goal was drifting onto his property?

 Working away.

Turning the camera to the left and looking up the street.  The building on the left side of this shot is a school.

Again, I'm not making any judgements good or bad about the area.  Just giving the rest of America a glimpse into the spot where a major event took place.

Bob Hendrix

Maserati 100: Cento Anni di Maserati at Santa Monica Pier

 Maserati kindly treated Maserati owners to a day in the LA area to celebrate their 100th anniversary.  They started the day at the Santa Monica Pier.  We had never been there before.

 It is a nice enough place.  Not worth a trip by itself, but if you're in the area be sure to stop by.

 Looking towards the east.

 Though it was a warm sunny Saturday, the beach was almost entirely empty.  There are still good days to visit Southern California beaches without the crowds.  Looking south.

 Looking north.

 What's this?  There appears to be an auto show going on in the parking lot!

 There is!

 A Maserati show.  OK, our car is in the crowd too.

 White is usually not our color, but with the red interior and calipers this Granturismo would be something I'd own.

 I loved this view of various Maserati models, before most of the crowd arrived.

 Here they are labeled for reference.

 A late 1960 something Maserati Ghibli I.  It was gorgeous!

 An early 1970 something Maserati Ghibli I.  Even more gorgeous in blue!!!

 A late 1950s/early 1960s Maserati 3500 GT.

 They were shooting for 100 cars, but it appears only 91 showed up (judging by the sequential numbers they assigned us).  91% is a pretty darn good turnout, based on events we've hosted.

 Our favorite color combination.  It is the combo we bought.  But there is one difference with this car from ours.  Can you spot it?

 (red calipers)

 We fell in love with this combo on this Saturday.  I like it every bit as good as ours.  Metallic black with red interior and calipers.  Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!

 I'd still buy ours though because black is hard to maintain and even harder to photograph.

 Another 2014 Maserati Ghibli in that color combination.

 A close up of the 2014 Maserati Ghibli in Nero Ribelle.

 A 2014 Maserati Ghibli in Grigio Metallo.   Very nice with those wheels!

 This is the first time we'd seen a 2014 Maserati Ghibli in Rosso Energia.   The camera came pretty close to capturing the red correctly, but not exactly.

 Very nice color.

 My wife in the reception tent.  They had coffee, tea, and croissants.

 This is where they handed out the gift bags.

 It was a beautiful day and cars were still arriving!

 The first time we'd seen a 2014 Maserati Ghibli in Rosso Folgore.

 A very executive looking Quattroporte.

 The prior generation Maserati Quattroporte

 Another one.  Looks like it has spacers on the wheels.

 The current generation Quattroporte.  A very nice design.

 Granturismo.

 A beautiful blue 3200 GT

 Okay, a few photos of our car.  Can you spot it?

 Here it is!

 My gorgeous spouse.

The mad dash to the restaurant...