A Moment at a Light

 I almost got a great picture for you today.  There was what Douglas Adams would have called "an irrational squall." Suddenly the wind kicked up, there was a spray of rain, and hundreds of yellow palo verde blossoms blew horizontally in front of my car.  This was at a red light, right at the Wilmot entrance to Park Place, formerly Park Mall.  I grabbed the camera.  Immediately the wind died, the light changed, and the photo op was lost.  Drat!

Right at that light is this sign, put in when the mall was seriously remodeled several years back.  This was a successful renovation, and I love that mall now.  (This is handy, because it's the closest mall to me.)  Someday I'll do "A Tale of Two Malls," comparing this mall with El Con, which is a failing renovation.  But not tonight.  Meanwhile, here's one picture from the kids' play area inside Park Place. I have no idea who the kid is.  She noticed me taking her picture, and looked at me suspiciously. I said, "I hope you don't mind!" and walked away.

I don't have much to say tonight.  I don't feel comfortable talking too much about the interview yesterday, except to say that I think it went well.  There will probably be a second interview.  The only bad thing was that I had to use an adding machine as part of an accounting test.  I hadn't used one of those in about a decade.  John even made me throw my mom's adding machine away, on the assumption that such things were antidiluvian.  It probably took me 20 minutes to figure out how to clear the running total!  So I was quite late getting back to my current job.

One more thing.  At that same intersection with the blowing blossoms and the mall sign, but across the street, is this derelict movie theater.  Many years ago at that theater, John and I saw a sneak preview of Star Trek IV: The Search for Spock, with audience reaction cards and everything.  Before the show we sat in line outside in the heat, discussing Buckaroo Banzai with people who'd come down from Colorado for the preview.  I think the Buena Vista was shut down about a year later.  It hasn't been used since, which is kind of a shame. I think it would be cool to make it a kid's entertainment center, with kid movies and games and stuff. 

Karen