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September 28-October 1, 2006 :: Return to Redondo Beach, CA

Another quick trip out to LA...
Thursday night, Sept 28, I hopped a flight back out to LA to visit Logan.  Approximately five hours later I was sitting in the Lexus SUV that he borrowed from work and we were speeding away to get something to eat before calling it a night. 



Old friends, new friends, and NBC...Nbcmarble
On Friday we had plans to go to Burbank to meet up with one of my long-time friends, Cathy.  Cathy just moved to LA to work for NBC Universal.  I was able to get tickets for the three of us, plus Cathy's fiance, to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno with the help of a new friend of mine that I met at the Out & Equal Workplace Summit, Robin.  Before going into the show, Robin took Logan and I around the NBC Burbank lot giving us a "behind the scenes" tour. 



It was fascinating to see how open and different the style of the site was.  There were all kinds of people around, also, even ones that didn't work there.  Either visitors or people waiting to see one of the many shows filmed on the lot, people were pretty much all over the place!  It was much different than the manufacturing locations I'm used to working in where you only see workers walking around the site and the shop floors. 



Watching the show being filmed live was amazing to me.  It's funny all of the things that happen that aren't aired on TV.  After it finished, Logan and I grabbed something to eat at a California Pizza Kitchen and then went back to his place to watch Camp.  It was a pretty long day, actually, considering that we were both up and working at 6:30a PST(which was really 9:30a for me so it felt later than it was). 



Cliff climbing to see a beach...
Palosverde060930The next day we got up, got some bagels, and took a ride to Palos Verde.  The picture on the left is of the beach from the roadside which is about 75 ft up.  Having a little taste for adventure in our mouths, Logan and I carefully navigated our way down a tiny, windy, and slippery pathway etched into the side of the cliff.  It was scary and really fun! :-)  Once we got to the bottom, we hopped from rock to rock playing red light/green light with the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean.  One wrong hop, one slip of timing, and we would be smacked by a wave and thrown into the shallow, rocky water.  It would not have been pretty. 



We spent some time enjoying the water and observing some of the sea flora and fauna in the tiny pools surrounded by the sharp rocks.  I talked to God for a little while in this place removed from the road, from technology, from the general noise of 21st century mundane life.  It was good. 



Time to go home so soon...
Logan and I went to see "Open Season" that evening and then returned home for a relaxing evening with take-out Chinese food and each others company.  I love going out to visit him because he's always very low key and easy going.  We have a good time and I always leave feeling rested and refilled.



The next day we got bagels again, went out to see the beach for a while, and before long, headed back to LAX.  Now, with another trip completed, I only had one more week before I returned to Connecticut for a month-long stay working for GE, Corporate at one of our Commercial Finance offices.  I'd return to southwest CT where I used to live before my Atlanta adventure began.  That story, I'm sure, will be exciting...but it hasn't been written yet...stay tuned!



Cheers,



M@

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