On Friday I took Amy to Hollywood Park. My employer had reserved boxes in the “players club.” Hollywood Park is in Inglewood. It took us an hour and a half to get there, and the traffic wasn’t half as bad as last Friday. We stayed for two races and then left. Not very many people from work showed up, mostly just the people that I know on a first name basis. Everyone wanted us to bet, but we didn’t. It was interesting, but I can’t say I’d get excited about going again. I guess it was a similar experience to gambling in the Vegas casino/s.

Saturday afternoon Amy and I went to the Getty Center. We had planned to visit Griffith Park, and then discovered that it will be closed for the next THREE YEARS. So we jumped to the next destination on our list – Getty. The center has very interesting architecture. J. Paul Getty must have been a billionaire. The entire complex is made of marble; the floors, the walls, the benches, even the fountains have giant raw marble boulders in them. The art collection was good, but it was obvious it was a building built around a personal collection, rather than a wide ranging museum type of collection. There was virtually no art made later than Monet. There were a few famous pieces in the collection like El Greco’s crucifixion, but most of it was standard 16th century still life’s or rich people portraits. I appreciate the workmanship in that kind of art, but it all gets a little stale after awhile, and you need a modern master work (like say a Chuck Close) to break it up, but there weren’t any. The complex looks giant on the map, but we walked through virtually every building and every room in under 45 minutes. We probably spent the longest time at the view area by the cactus garden. To the east you can see UCLA, downtown, and beyond, and to the west you can see out into the ocean.

Speaking of the ocean, we didn’t end up going to the beach on Sunday because it rained. Instead we went to Costco (Amy’s fun shopping place) and then Frye’s Electronics (my fun shopping place). The Burbank Frye’s theme was Mars Attacks and had interesting installations everywhere. The whole place seemed a little dirty and cramped though. I did some price checking, and they still can’t rival the deals you can get online.

Saturday night Mr. Machine spent the better part of an hour trying to get me to go to a party thrown by someone who knows the bass tech for Mars Volta. As much as I’d like to hang with that crowd, schmoozing from 11pm-1am just isn’t going to work for me anymore. All I really care about is just getting a rehearsal space when Mr. Machine gets his drum set. Mr. Machine went to his parents’ place in Palm Springs yesterday and traded in his Volvo for his sister’s car (until he gets something else). It was a little jarring this morning because it turns out his sister has the exact same car as my brother.

Last Thursday the check engine light came on in my car on the way to work, so I have to take it to a dealership after work today. Fun fun fun. They need to keep it for at least a day, so I have to drive a rental car tomorrow.