Sharon, Dan and Annie at the Museum of Jurassic Technology

We called Dan on Saturday. We hadn’t heard from him for a while, and the only Facebook post that I saw all week, had to do with working long hours with power saws. Cue the concerned parents. He is working on his thesis project at CalArts. He is somewhat guarded about it. Probably because he doesn’t want to read about it, on this blog, before it is unveiled. Whoops! I do know that it is big. He has the largest space on campus scheduled. It is also tiny. He has made hundreds of miniature squirrels. They are made out of Green Stuff, a malleable epoxy that dries hard and green. He is in the mist of painting them now. He being Dan, Annie and anyone else he can find to help. I’ve offered to help too.

The photo shows Sharon, Dan and Annie. Sharon is Annie’s friend, from Saint Louis. It was taken at the Museum of Jurassic Technology, which is located in Culver City. Reading the Wiki article, the museum seems to have a rather eclectic collection of novelties, including a display of mice on toast and a mouse pie, they are purported cures for bed-wetting, incontinence and stuttering. The Museum’s founder, David Wilson, received a MacArthur grant, so there must be something to his work. Right?

Dave is in California now, too. He is in San Diego. He is attending the mid-winter meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. Otolaryngology or ENT (ear, nose and throat) is the branch of medicine and surgery that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders.

It is tax season here in the Lou. Anne has already waded through Dave’s returns, with its taxable energy credits (don’t ask), and has started on Dan’s. And yes, in case you were wondering, she is still preparing the taxes for her two, grown, college educated sons. She also still prepares mine too, and I’m old enough to be their father. So, I’ll leave the all high and mighty role to her. TurboTax, as part of filing Dan’s California state tax return, asked if he was qualified for an Ottoman Turkish Empire Settlement payment. Umm, is there a story here? As it turns out, this is for the benefit of victims (and descendants) of the Armenian Genocide, who settled in California. They recently won an insurance suit.

This post, which revolves about the whole SoCal scene, is somewhat apropos, what with tonight being Oscar night. I have seen even fewer of this year’s nominations than normal. You can blame streaming video for that. Via this technology, I’ve seen more movies this year then normal, just not this year’s nominees. The release lag is still too long. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, this will change. Then, I’ll have more of a stake in the Oscars. More than waiting for a faux pas. I might actually care who wins.