Day 31 - Snow

Only two hours away from the beach was this pristine mountain. The rain from two weeks ago left this behind up here.

Day 30 - People I Dig

I've been friends with Margie for nearly 18 years, and it's a real treat that I get to see her at least once a year when she comes to town to cover the Grammys. She's one of the smartest, funniest, and coolest people I know.

Day 29 - Santa Monica Pier

I know it's a tourist destination, but there's an awful lot of things to see.

Day 28 - Words to Live By

'Nuff said.

Day 27 - Flowers

Here we call it a Bird of Paradise (it's the city flower of Los Angeles), but it's actually native to South Africa, where it's called the Crane Flower (Strelitzia reginae). And thanks to H-Mac (who has a new photo blog herself) for helping pick today's picture.

Day 26 - Flowers

Commonly known as statice. Or Perez's Sea Lavender (Limonium perezii) if you want to be specific. Anyway, it's raining again today. Sigh.

Day 25 - SoCal Snow

All that rain in L.A. last week was snow in the higher elevations . . . although it was about 75 degrees when I took the picture.

Day 24 - L.A.

I think this is one of the most recognizable skylines in the U.S., if not the world.

Day 23 - No Rain

For the first time in almost a week, it didn't rain today. Saw this interesting radio tower in the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.

Day 22 - Rain (Still)

This is getting ridiculous. Five straight days of rain . . . I saw seagulls & pigeons lining up two-by-two in Santa Monica.

Day 21 - Rain (Again)

Fourth straight day of thunderstorms . . . any more of this and people are gonna start building arks.

Day 20 - Nighttime

Three straight days of rain, with patches of clearing in between. Tried to shoot cars and all I got was this.

Day 19 - Post-Rain

Two days of fast-moving heavy thunderstorms, each one followed by clearing skies.

Day 18 - Rain

Yes, it rains in L.A. No, I wasn't driving with my windshield wipers off. Yes, I had at least one hand on the steering wheel. Thank you for your concern . . .

Day 17 - People I Dig

Today is Aunt Anne's birthday . . . one of the classiest people I know. I love her to pieces.

Day 16 - Rattleback

H-Mac came into my office yesterday with a rattleback - I had never seen one before, but she and I played with it on my desk for at least 10 minutes. Good thing it was the end of the day . . .

Late Night Wars

I still remember vividly the late-night battle that was waged almost 18 years ago, when Johnny Carson announced that he would be retiring after nearly 30 years as the host of The Tonight Show. NBC badly bungled the selection process of Johnny's successor, waffling between Jay Leno, who was the regular guest host of The Tonight Show, and David Letterman, who hosted Late Night, which immediately followed Carson. Ultimately, NBC gave Tonight to Leno, and shortly thereafter offered the same show to Letterman, but only after Leno would have had it for a year. Letterman replied, "Then it's Jay's show; I don't want Jay's show - I want Johnny's." After consulting with Johnny Carson, David Letterman bolted to CBS for his own show, The Late Show with David Letterman, where he remains today.

In an effort to prevent a similar fiasco, NBC acted quickly in 2004 when Jay Leno announced that he wanted to retire when he was 60 (in 2009) and Conan O'Brien (who took over Late Night when Letterman left) was announced as the new host of The Tonight Show, beginning in 2009. But in 2008, Jay Leno changed his mind about retirement, and made very public rumblings about jumping to a rival network, like FOX, when his run on The Tonight Show ended. In an effort to placate Leno and keep him on NBC, he was given the Monday - Friday 10:00 p.m. time slot to continue his same show as The Jay Leno Show, while Conan O'Brien assumed the mantle of The Tonight Show. What no one at NBC foresaw was that the local newscasts who followed Leno's new show would suffer such drastic drop-offs in viewership (and local news is where local stations make the bulk of their advertising revenue) that they would very loudly and publicly decry the feasibility of a five-night-a-week variety show to lead into their local news. As a result, NBC executives in their infinite "wisdom," decided that they would give Jay Leno a half-hour show back in his old Tonight 11:35 p.m. home after the late local news, while bumping the Conan O'Brien Tonight Show back to 12:05 a.m. Except they forgot to check with Conan first.

In a public statement released this past Tuesday, Conan O'Brien slammed both NBC and Jay Leno, and refused to move The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m. In the meantime, O'Brien, Letterman, and even Jimmy Kimmel (who has his own late-night show on ABC) have pulled no punches, pummeling both NBC and Jay Leno relentlessly. NBC has already assured network affiliates that The Jay Leno Show is officially canceled, effective mid-February, right before the Winter Olympics begin from Vancouver. But the NBC late-night schedule is still very much in flux, as neither Jay Leno or Conan O'Brien have reached any new contractual agreement with the network.

To me, there are two villains in this story: Jay Leno and NBC network executives. When Johnny Carson retired in 1992, he never appeared on NBC again, and only made one other television appearance (on The Late Show with David Letterman in 1994) before passing away in 2005. Jay Leno should have honored his commitment to both NBC and Conan O'Brien and graciously walked away from television in 2009. He could still have performed his stand-up comedy routines across the country and maintained some shred of integrity. By bullying NBC into giving him an ill-fated 10:00 p.m. show, and now demanding the 11:35 p.m. slot back, Leno is demonstrating an obvious lack of class, as evidenced by the vicious backlash he so deservedly is receiving. And NBC is showing a lack of principles (or backbone, take your pick) by repeatedly acquiescing to an aging performer and throwing a loyal employee (Conan O'Brien) under the bus.

If NBC truly had any courage, they'd tell Jay Leno to go take a hike, apologize profusely to Conan O'Brien, and turn their late night programming over to Conan and Jimmy Fallon (who inherited Late Night from O'Brien), ensuring some sense of stability for the next 20 years. And if Jay Leno had any sense of decency, he'd apologize to both NBC and Conan, and fade off into the obscurity of the comedy shows of the Las Vegas Strip. But if not, I know the first person Conan O'Brien will call.

David Letterman.

Day 15 - Monarch

It's amazing what you find when you start looking for things to photograph. Two weeks down, 50 more to go . . .

Day 14 - Sunset

I wasn't chained to my desk today and got out of my meetings early enough to catch the sunset.

Day 13 - Only in L.A.

Passed this on my way to work this morning . . . actually turned around and got out of the car. I don't think this meets the criteria of "Porta Potty."

Day 12 - Santa Monica

I walked to the post office this afternoon.

Day 11 - Shorebird

Chained to my desk today; decided to post a photo request.

Day 10 - LAX

There are a lot of Southwest planes landing at LAX. I mean, a LOT.

Day 9 - Farmers' Market

Fresh asparagus in Playa Vista.

Day 8 - Nighttime

Giving it another go.

Day 7 - Space Heater

Suckers throw some heat.

Day 6 - Santa Monica

A fountain in the courtyard next to my building.

Day 5 - People I Dig

A.P. got herself a new job; her last day is this Friday.

Day 4 - LMU

First attempt at proper night shots . . .

Day 3 - Ocean Beach

The surf was high in San Diego County today.

Day 2 - Sea World

Not the same as when I was eight . . .

Day 1 - San Diego Wild Animal Park

So I went a little overboard on the first day - maybe this will buy me some goodwill if I miss a day or two in the future?