Microblog

Walked the Mall of America with friends. Made an impulse purchase at the LEGO store: a reward for riding a medical rollercoaster in the past 24 hours. (It ended well, reward enough.) There’s a tradition here: whenever I visited “the doctor’s big house” (hospital) as a kid, my dad would give me a toy car.

Got injected with a radioactive tracer that sticks to prostate cancer cells, prior to being slid through a hybrid PET/CT scanner. This will help determine if I qualify for a clinical trial. The tracer and the high sensitivity of the scanner are recent innovations.

We were a little deficient in the cruciferous department while traveling this past week. Today we started to redress the balance with roasted broccoli.

Between 10 lanes of traffic at the intersection of the Metro A and C lines, Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station, on our way to LAX.

Unintended triptych, left to right: Dwight at the Getty Center today (pack in front as required by museum guards); sculpture depicting 17th century femininity; “Joey at the Love Ball,” drag, 1991. A few provocative juxtapositions of contemporary and pre-1900 European art are scattered throughout the galleries.

Rode three forms of transit today: ferry to Long Beach while dolphins leaped; LRT to downtown Los Angeles while hucksters walked the aisle pushing weed and knockoff tasers; nonstop elevator to the lobby of our hotel on the 70th floor of the tallest building on the West Coast.

After a day hiking the hills, we carefully synchronized refreshments with the wash and dry cycles in a nearby laundromat. It was now time to fold.

Hiked up, up, up, then across Catalina Island on ridges. Looked down at clouds and the Pacific. Retraced our steps to Avalon for a 3:00 p.m. ice cream lunch, two scoops each.

Almost back in Avalon after hiking for a few hours in the hills. Easy gradients, ridge views, bison hoof prints. As the photo shows, this is low season, with many vacant mooring buoys: it’s a good time of the year to explore the island.

Hiked up from Avalon until we could see the other side of the island. Walked a ridge trail then retraced our steps. Beer, chips, salsa and fresh guacamole at Luau Larry’s.

Staying in Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, 30 miles from Long Beach by ferry. Avalon is the southernmost town in Los Angeles County, and a mythical island in the legend of King Arthur.

Got on board a westbound 747 (actually an A320-200)/ Didn’t think before deciding what to do/ …/ Seems it never rains in southern California/ Seems I’ve often heard that kind of talk before/ It never rains in California/ But girl, don’t they warn ya?/ It pours, man, it pours.

Last appointment of the day: haircut by Emily. I’ve known her 30 years and look forward to our conversations. Earlier, managed to sandwich GED tutoring between a radioactive tracer injection and a whole-body bone scan. All those activities were on today’s walk: I choose to live as normally as possible.

There’s 9½ miles of skyways in Minneapolis. My goal today was to find a section I’ve never walked before. This section, running through Thrivent Financial’s headquarters, was new to me. Until 2013 Thrivent only served Lutherans; today they serve a broader market.

Started collecting stuff for a trip to LA. The TAP transit cards have sufficient value on them for all our Metro rides. The extension cords will be useful in an old hotel on Catalina Island. The remaining items reflect the new normal: we choose to mask-up on flights and transit.

Walked with a friend on an icy trail we’ve cycled many times. Stopped for lunch at Malcolm Yards, a grown-up, cooked-from-scratch food court. The developers stabilized a ruined structure, and built a complementary industrial-style space within the facade.