My cable internet access is down...but I'm up on Verizon Wireless Broadband Access.  I wanted to get a couple posts out of the way prior to... 

 30,000 people showed up on Saturday to check out the latest experiment in Los Angeles Mass Transit (which isn't an oxymoron I assure you!): the Metro Orange Line.  The problem(s):  it is a bus, not a train.  Long story short; the Valley screwed themselves out of seeing a rail line in their neck of the woods with a flood of 'Not In My Back Yard" (NIMBY) protests.  So, millions of dollars and two decades later...we have the Orange Line.  They even paved over the old rail line that used to exist there to build the Orange Line.  :(  The transfer point with the highly popular Red Line subway *sucks*.  The positives: the Orange Line has its own dedicated Right Of Way.  The bus stock are pretty sleek & cutting edge.  They are articulated busses that run 60' long and even have a spiffy name; "MetroLiner".  Who wouldn't want to take a ride on a MetroLiner, eh?  :)  One cool aspect is that these MetroLiners will start to appear on other Metro Rapid routes in December...including the most congested corridor in the nation: Wilshire Boulevard.

 So it seems the first weekend of this new line was a success.  We'll see how many people ride this sucker consistently, and whether this is a model for future mass transit initiatives in Los Angeles.  My personal opinion is that we need everything we can get at this stage...beggars can't be choosers.  With state & federal funding scarce...we have to find ways to stretch every dollar.  Projects like the Orange Line, which cost a mere (lol) $230M, only took three years to be built.  Contrast that with the $900M Gold Line Eastside extension which will run only 6 miles but will not open until 2009.  (Granted, 1.8miles of that route will be subterranean)

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Valley's Orange Line a Hit Out the Gate

 

 CBS2 Video Report on the Orange Line

 Figures!  I miss all the excitement!  I'm actually on my way to Montreal on a business trip dangit!  hehe  Looks like there was some kind of transmission surge causing an outage throughout most of Downtown Los Angeles.  One would assume this includes Staples Center & the Convention Cneter...where the PDC is being held this week!  Last PDC it was the fires!  This PDC it is a power outage!  I hope the hordes of geeks and Microserfs don't think poorly upon the City of Angels.  :)

As of 4pm Central Time these live streams were active:

http://www.cbs2.com/

NBC4: http://nbc4la.feedroom.com/index.jsp?fr_story=09b5040891aec86fb6d4051b0dfd80df8f8d4312

KCAL9: http://www.kcal.com/

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Areas of Los Angeles hit with power outages - Oil & Energy - MSNBC.com

 No, not Guile's trick from Street Fighter.  Nasa is determined to land the Space Shuttle Discovery tomorrow.  Edwards Air Force Base here in California has been activated as a backup site in event that weather conditions at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida could compromise the landing.

 It has been a long time since I've experienced a sonic boom; Shuttle landings at Edwards AFB frequently produce one over Los Angeles as the shuttle decelerates.  Heres to hoping I awake to a healthy sonic boom & my windows rattling tomorrow morning!  (I can just imagine some of the frantic reactions to people who aren't keeping up with the news)

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NASA delays shuttle landing until Tuesday - Return to Flight - MSNBC.com

NASA will open up its backup landing sites at Edwards Air Force Base in California and at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico for Tuesday's opportunities. The potential landing times (all Eastern) are 5:07 a.m. and 6:43 a.m. at Kennedy, 8:12 a.m. and 9:47 a.m. at Edwards, and 6:39 a.m. and 8:13 a.m. at White Sands.

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THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS

Fox Sports on MSN: Phil rejoins Lakers

Just had a nice little shaker while sitting here on the PC...more wobble than shake but it easily was the largest jolt I've felt in a good year or so?  Good 7-10 sec of wobbling.

Update: A moderate earthquake occurred at 08:41:46 AM (PDT) on Sunday, June 12, 2005.
The magnitude 5.6 event occurred 9 km (6 miles) ESE of Anza, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 14 km ( 8 miles).

http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/ci14151344.htm

Graphics:  MSNBC Flash News, epicenter of quake, and NBC 4 Seismograph of the event.

(off to work so see you all later!)

LOS ANGELES, June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- In a first for Metro, a super
transport jet today delivered a new light rail vehicle to Los Angeles, marking
the beginning of Metro's 50-car order from Italy's Ansaldobreda S. p. A.
Metro and elected officials joined Ansaldobreda executives on the tarmac at
LAX's Imperial Terminal as a Russian-built Antonov AN-124 opened its cargo bay
to reveal the 2550 Light Rail Vehicle, which was then rolled onto a flatbed
truck for delivery to the Metro Gold Line maintenance facility in Los Angeles.

"The 2250 rail car will serve our passengers well as we continue to expand the Metro Rail System," said Frank Roberts, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board Chair. "Metro has had an excellent working relationship with Ansaldobreda and we look forward to the future deliveries of this great vehicle."

    Each 2550 Light Rail Vehicle costs $2.9 million, is 90 feet long and
weighs 54 tons.  Other features include:

     * seating for 76 passengers
     * locations for four wheelchairs
     * top in-service speed of 65 mph
     * stainless steel exterior
     * 12 interior/8 exterior public address speakers two passenger intercoms per car
     * global Positioning System for automatic station announcement
     * two silent alarms
     * three video surveillance cameras per car

 "The 2550 is as technologically advanced as any light rail car operating in the United States," said Roger Snoble, Metro's chief executive officer.  "Ansaldobreda has answered our call for a first class vehicle that meets the needs of all three Metro Rail light rail lines, to be delivered on time and within budget."

    The 50 2550 rail cars will operate on the Metro Blue, Green and Gold Lines, including the Metro Gold Line's future Eastside Extension, which is due to open in December 2009. The first deployment of the 2550 will occur on the Metro Gold Line in late 2005 or early 2006.

    The 2550 contract includes two 50-car options for the procurement of
additional rail cars to accommodate future growth of the Metro Rail System.

Metro operates 73.1 miles of light and heavy rail and serves nearly a quarter million boarding passengers on an average weekday.

While walking home from work earlier tonight, I came across my first June Bug of 2005!  Actually two of them.  Flying lazily low to the ground with no apparent mission or direction per usual.  Creepy suckers.  Usually we start seeing them at the end of May...a little late this year.  Wonder if the soggy winter will impact their numbers.

What is a June Bug?  Get the MSN Search Direct Answer!

I've uploaded some exterior shots from the day prior to E3 before I flew up to Seattle.  Most are windows-related in some way.  I also uploaded a shot to My Blog Photos of the new Metro stop signage prototype for those LA PT users visiting.  Last new pic is in My Blog Photos; a bottle Microsoft PowerUp Water I picked up for free while I was up in Redmond.

Live Video on http://www.kcal.com, http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/, http://www.nbc4.tv and http://www.cbs2.com/.

Absolutely amazing!  These are multi-million dollar homes.  Thankfully, only minor injuries reported thus far!  More pics & video from KTLA on the new LAtimes.com @ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-060105slide_lat,0,118386.story?coll=la-home-headlines.

Video Update: MSNBC Live examines why there was a slide.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry!  Check out this upcoming video game, a satirization of Los Angeles' proclivity for disaster.  I'm actually excited about this game.  Who doesn't secretly love to spawn a Tornado in Sim City and watch devastation unfold before your eyes?  To top it off, I'll get to roam around my home as fissures open up in the ground and locust swarm in from the hills!

 Maybe this will keep people from moving here in droves!  STOP already!  LOL

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American McGee resurfaces with Bad Day L.A. - Xbox News at GameSpot

It was inevitable.  Plans for modernizing the quiet & quaint Long Beach Airport (LGB) are in the works...dividing the community.  I've flown out of this airport several times in the last few years.  While I love the size & urgency that is LAX, I also appreciate the history that is on display at LGB.  People seem to step through a time portal when they walk through this airport.  People aren't so chaotic, they are extra courteous and *gasp* even smile!  I doubt it is the surroundings itself...but I think LGB attracts a certain kind of passenger.  One that is a bit more relaxed and ready for the travails of travelling...so why not make the best of it?

Thanks to Desktop Search...here are a couple pics I've taken there.  (yes, you have to walk out onto the tarmac to board the plane!)

Registration Required (article is now 24hr old)

Airport Project Has Baggage (LATimes.com; which was overhauled yesterday!)

Sweeps month is big business for local news stations.  NBC4 brought out "Live Traffic 4D", CBS2 "stole" popular weatherman Johnny Mountain from ABC7 (who said he was leaving to take care of his wife and had a whole emotional on-air going away segment, then a month later pops up on the competition!  Money talks!), while ABC7 trotted out Air7HD...the first helicopter with High-Definition technology in Los Angeles.  I was skeptical at first.  I tuned in yesterday afternoon at which point Air7HD was overhead another freeway shooting victim.  You could see the bullethole in the front windshield.  NBC4's helicopter shot was unable to show that as far as I could tell.

Score one for ABC7.

I have to believe Dallas Raines didn't want this, but when former ABC7 weatherman Johnny Mountain (bio isn't even on CBS2's website yet!) shockingly started working at CBS2 this week, something had to be done?  ABC7 started airing 7 day forecasts this week...the first local news station to do so.  That said, if I am comfortable with any station issuing 7 day forecasts here in Los Angeles...it would be ABC7 and Dallas Raines.

Score another for ABC7.

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Air7HD

Ah urban relaxation!  I found a neat new Cafe that officially opens next Monday here in Downtown LA.  I'm sipping a Banana Split Swirl while lounging back in some comfy seats and checking my email.  This place is pretty swank for a cafe...lush colors, decent music, and warehouse style floors let you know this isn't your mother's cafe of old.  If any of you locals get a chance to hit this place, the staff is uber-friendly.  I've only been here once previously, but one member of the staff, Tim, knew my name when I came in today!  Nice.  I can see coming here to relax before going home.  I took a couple of pictures...

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Camille's Sidewalk Café   -   eat, relax, enjoy!

Not the drink; the natural kind.

Enough of a kick to make everything including my chair and my desk sway/wobble for a good 10 seconds.

It has been a Chamber of Commerce kind of day weather wise for the Los Angeles Marathon...temperatures are peaking out in the upper 60s with light winds.  Perfect!

Just in from the festivities...I tell you what; it is so inspirational to be in the crowd cheering individual people on for the last .2 miles of their 26 mile journey through the streets of Los Angeles!!  So much so, that I committed myself to running the LA Marathon next year!  That's right...you read it here first!  heh  I've done it in the past, so I know I can do it...just gotta prepare prepare prepare.  I got one year to do it!

Only had one real celebrity sighting...and it was a doosy!  A few minutes after 4 hours into the run had elapsed, I was talking with another Angeleno next to me when I heard someone shrillingly shout "Captain Archer!".  I turn and I got a couple seconds of Scott Bakula running with a friend towards the finish line in full glory.  That man is in *shape*!  Here's to hoping I'll be running alongside the Captain of the Enterprise at this race next year!

I'm heading out to watch the 20th Annual Los Angeles Marathon!  It starts in just a few minutes...the weather is absolutely beautiful.  The sun is out but I expect it to act on some remaining moisture and cloud things up a bit.  A perfect day to hold a marathon! (26.2 miles)  I'm not running myself; but I have run this race three times in the past.  Always enjoy the festivities...this time I'll be on the sidewalks enjoying the good food and urban loving crowds. 

I'll be offline most of the day...I know I haven't been around much.  Hope to see some of you online later tonight!

You can watch a live webcast of the 20th Annual Los Angeles Marathon via the NBC4.tv link:

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NBC 4 - Marathon