Stylish Nerds

A while back I promised you a photo of me and John in our new glasses. We finally had our picture taken by our fabulous neighbor, Linda Centell (thank you, Linda!) and voila! New glasses.

It's a good day to post this photo because today is special: it's the birthday of my husband, my best friend, my helper, my comedian, my teacher, my light, my safety net, my power switch, my sounding board, my partner, my question, my answer, my absolute love. And now that we're past the mushy stuff, he's also my favorite silly person. No one has ever made me laugh as much or as hard.

I keep coming up with special things for us to do today, but I don't think he wants to do special things. He wants to relax, get some work done and enjoy his home. And really, when a couple of nerds are happy together, that's special enough.

Maybe it would be best to celebrate by doing something silly. Your silly suggestions are welcome.

Happy birthday, sweeney.

State of the Blog

In PDP news:

Editor Colleen Dunn Bates of Hometown Pasadena has named Pasadena Daily Photo on her list of Top Ten Experiences in Pasadena for 2009. PDP proudly shares the #9 slot with Timothy Rutt's powerhouse Altadenablog.

The San Gabriel Valley blogging community is a thriving, generous, positive place where I've been encouraged and buoyed by my fellow bloggers from the very beginning. I'm grateful to Colleen for her recognition, and to all the bloggers I've met for being such cool people.

In PB news:

Each year Pasadena's mayor gives a State of the City address. This year's theme is "Charting a New Course." A video will be presented to go along with the theme of Mayor Bogaard's speech. I auditioned and was chosen to do the voice-over for the video! It was a fun experience and a real departure from my usual :30 second and one minute spots. Linda Centell, Pasadena's assistant Public Information Officer, edited the video.

If you're in town, you can attend this free event on January 28th at 6:30 p.m. at LaSalle High School, 3880 East Sierra Madre Blvd. For more information call (626) 744-4311 or email Inagahiro (at) cityofpasadena.net.

Acronymious

Who needs Hollywood? All that beating of one's head against Hollywood's brick wall is unnecessary when our very own KPAS has a green screen (aka Chroma key) studio. (If you don't know what it is and you'd rather not read the Wikipedia article, just click here for a quick visual to give you an idea of how green screen can be used.)

I met some nice people over at Hen's Teeth Square where the studios are located. Linda Centell, Pasadena's Assistant Public Information Officer, introduced me to everybody (and she knows everybody):
E. Stuart Johnson, Live Production Coordinator, recorded and videotaped me in the sound booth. (It's strange to watch myself doing voice-over on video.)
Later, Aaron Wheeler, the Marketing & Communications Manager, was helping set up in the green screen studio while I nosed around with my camera.
Don Repella, the Executive Director of Pasadena Community Access Corporation, talked about how green screen is used. Plus we got to talking about photography.
Community Outreach Coordinator Michele Maglionico Lembo demonstrated how to break the rules.

Now I know that KPAS and PCN are two different entities. Linda told me PCAC is public access and KPAS is government access, but is PCAC the same as PCN? And what does KLRN have to do with it? And why is it when I click on the "How Can You Create Your Own Show" link on the PCN website I get nowhere? What are they trying to tell me?

Ah, just banging my head against a bright green brick wall.

Recycling Efforts

I saw my friend and neighbor Linda Centell at the District 3 block party. You may remember Linda; she works with Ann Erdman, Pasadena's Public Information Officer. At the party, Linda introduced me to Gabriel Silva. Linda thinks the world of this guy and now that I know more about him, I do, too.

Gabriel is Pasadena's Environmental Programs Manager. Do you want to guess what that involves, or should I just tell you?

It'll take too long to get a consensus. I'll just tell you.

The Environmental Programs Manager is responsible for the following recycling programs: residential curbside, green waste, used oil, large venue/special events, compact fluorescent light bulb/battery, sharps (needles, syringes, etc.), e-waste (like the free collection events), composting and of course all those Christmas trees. His duties also include: elementary school education/outreach, household hazardous waste disposal, coordinating the Greening the Earth Day Festival, annual outstanding recycler awards, developing new programs to increase the City's waste diversion, managing several state grants, and reporting.

I know the above is true because I got it from Gabriel. Though it seems like a lot, a paragraph still doesn't give you the scope. Think of each of those duties as containing other duties. For example: did you know that a single Rose Bowl Game (large venue/special event) can generate as much as six tons of recycling trash? Someone has to pick up all that stuff. And sort it. Eeuw.

Silva doesn't collect all those cans himself. He coordinates the effort, though, by teaming up with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps to employ 50 to 80 young adults to help at UCLA Home Games, the Rose Bowl Game and the BCS Bowl Game.

I'd say something about how well he delegates his staff, except if I understand it correctly there's only one staffer to delegate. So I have to assume Gabriel does a lot of the work himself. When Linda introduced us, we interrupted him collecting the trash bins from the block party. It was a Saturday, but these things have to be done and when you don't have underlings to do them for you, you do them yourself.

Just take another look at Gabriel's list of duties and think about that.

Ow. My back is killing me.

Here's more information about recycling in Pasadena.

Thank You, Ann

If you've been visiting Pasadena Daily Photo this week you may have wondered, "who is this illustrious Public Information Officer, this Ann Erdman person, and why is she in Palm Springs?" (The question I've been asking myself is, where's Linda Centell? She's my neighbor and I haven't seen her all week.)

I should have coordinated with Ann; it's not her fault I chose the week of her vacation to post my City Hall photos. She has every right to take a vacation, and Linda is perfectly capable of serving as Acting PIO for a week.

Here's a list of a few of the things Ann does as Pasadena's Public Information Officer (and what Linda's been doing in her absence):

--writes Pasadena In Focus, the newsletter received in every Pasadena household, telling us what's going on in town. (A joint effort. Ann tells me Linda is the "world's greatest editor.")
--prepares and distributes news releases and answers media inquiries.
--oversees all programming on 55KPAS, Pasadena's local cable TV station.
--develops and sells City Hall souvenirs. (I have the tote bag.)

The rest I quote from Ann's job description: The Public Information Office "...produces brochures, leaflets, flyers, posters, ads and other literature; plans press conferences; promotes special events; provides media relations and public relations counsel to city departments; and oversees the information kiosk at Pasadena City Hall..."

As if that weren't enough, Ann has received accolades and awards for putting together The Pasadena Follies, where city officials have a chance to make fun of themselves for a good cause.

She's won the hearts and minds of the local blogging community (and there are a lot of us) not just by answering our questions, which is part of her job description, but by being our friend, which is not.

Ann is also a blogger. Check her out at Pasadena PIO. And you can follow her on Twitter. She even found time to give me a friendly tour of the "inner sanctum" at City Hall.

I think a vacation is allowed.

No One is Incognito

You'll find Linda Centell in the City Hall Public Affairs office. I took several pictures of her and I think this one's interesting. Unfortunately, you can't see Linda in it. If you want to see a cute picture of Linda, scroll down in this post on the Pasadena PIO's blog. You'll find Linda and her handsome husband, Ed Washatka, in their party duds.

Something I love about Pasadena is that people here are connected. It's not just me. I've never been this connected in any other place. See, things work sort of like this: Linda and Ed are my neighbors, and, say, Linda introduces me to a friend who's interested in a cause I care about, and that friend happens to know a professor who wrote an article about a subject I'm interested in, so the professor hooks me up with some people he knows who belong to an organization I belong to, and it turns out one of them is a blogger I had already met online, and through her I meet Ann Erdman who is the Public Information Officer, and wouldn't you know it? Ann is Linda's boss.

I don't think I've made myself clear. What I mean is it's a big circle. Not everyone knows everyone, but sooner or later everyone seems to be connected to everyone somehow, and if you want to meet someone you probably know someone who can introduce you. Somehow.

And no, I didn't uncover any secrets at City Hall. As far as I know, nobody there is incognito.