As most longtime NS Members know, NS undergoes an upgrade & face lift every fall to bring new features and improvements to the site for the coming season. This year is no exception. Plus, now that NS is a subsidiary of WMG, we have more resources than before to make that happen.

One clear indication of this is that we have started our work during the spring, much earlier than normal.

I've spent the last week working with our colleagues at WMG in LA (Who are a fantastic bunch BTW) to help them better understand the site & community, and they have in turn spent time training me on their methodologies and tool sets.

It was quite a shock coming to LA form Ottawa where we are having a record snow year. Our surrounding cities have stopped doing snow removal because there is nowhere else to put it. Instead it's being pushed on the sidewalks, many of which are no longer being plowed:

After a hectic week of all 10+ hour days, I had the weekend to just relax and check out LA. On Saturday I went to the famous Getty, a privately owned museum by the Getty estate (an old Oil tycoon I believe). The museum was fantastic (and had free admission), if you are ever in LA it's worth a look.

Here are some of my shots. Enjoy!

The Getty on the mountain. You can't drive there since it's high up. Instead you park at the base and take the free TRAM up the hill.

Once off the TRAM, you end up in the outdoor "lobby" of the Getty.

The Getty is broken into 4 public buildings (plus others for the research institute and trust foundation), this is the central area between each pavilion. The foundation spared no expense.

The entire museum is covered in imported stone from Italy. It's quite stunning.

I didn't get many good pictures of the artwork. To preserve the pieces the temperature is kept quite low (but still comfortable), and the lighting is dim except for lights on the artwork during open hours. My little point & shoot just couldn't get very good shots.

This is a sarcophagus cover over 2000 years old. When I die, I want one of these on my tomb.

A 250 year old microscope. They aren't made like this anymore...

(Woops, this image is sideways. Sorry guys, time's short. Just tilt your head. ;)

To finish my tour, I spent some time in the sun in the Getty gardens. Very perty.

So that's my condensed tour of the Getty in LA. I hope you enjoyed it.

So, back to work for me. Till next time!

~Paul