Summer Movie Slump

Everybody wants to know about this summer's movie box office slump. I have the answer for you in no uncertain terms. I'm not going to go into a tirade about the artless films that come out in the summer, this is about business. When demand is high business is good. When demand is low and the market is flooded business is bad. Here's the problem: Bewitched, Bad News Bears, Dukes of Hazzard, War of the Worlds, Herbie...All of these movies are repackaged versions of TV shows or movies that weren't that fricken good in the first place. Nostalgia is one thing but paying ten bucks to see Billy Bob replace Walter Mathau? Come off that crap. War of the Worlds? That movie is fifty years old and the book is fifty years older than that. It's a story that everybody knows and has been repackaged so many times (Independence Day?) That intelligent people no longer give a shit. Not only that, but people were burned so badly last summer with the crap that was released no one wants to take a chance on this year's crap. I'm having a hard time remembering waht came out last summer that how good the stuff was. The only two movies I even remember last year were Garden State and Napolean Dynamite. And they weren't summer blockbusters. And then there's the problem of Comic Book Movies. The problem with comic book movies is CGI. See, we're now able to make any comic book movie we want because the special effects are able to handle it now. What we're not doing is waiting for the right script to come along. The Hulk, Spiderman, an Fantastic Four are all good examples. Batman Begins and X-Men are exceptions. Anyway, thats my take on it. Come out with something original and compelling and I go back to the theater, but I can watch Dukes of Hazzard on CMT.

Blog Blog While I Sing This Song

Descendents-I'm The One: Ok Pete I just want more fun when we hang out. That's it. Randy why are you staying there so long. Sublime-Garden Grove: Did you realize its HOT here and nice up there and not pay for anything. I worked pretty good this week worked some dating show called the score with host Ryan Cabrera (dated Aslee Simpson), some ESPN promo for college gameday with country alternative (they call it) Big and Rich feat. Cowboy Troy(a black cowboy who raps) and Two foot Fred (a midget who acts wierd with a wierd hat). Something Corporate-I Woke Up In A Car: Also Las Vegas I was a geeky accountant with randy's favorite actor James Caan (who is growing a goatee that looks retarded and is short). Then I did a pool scene dancing with a unbuttoned shirt with some good lookin girls then moved to the back cuz my wardrobe aprroved shirt was too bright. New Found Glory- I Don't Wanna Know : whoa I almost lost my blog but I found it. The Used-Take It Away: Hopefully I worksome better shows and get one more voucher. Pete you write a lot save some blogging for us I don't have a computer at work. Some questions to ask
1. Nokia or Motorola
2. Get brain tumor from a cell phone
3. Wish You Had More
4. East coast or West Coast
5. Rain or sunshine
6. Do you long to be articulate and interesting but worry you are not

My answers 1. Motorola 2.Possible 3.Money 4.West coast 5.Rain 6.Yes

Write whatever you feel at that time.

Here are a few pics... Enjoy

This is my house...It's even better on the inside!!!

This is my car...OOOOOOOO....AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

This is my second cousin Luke...cute little guy ain't he?

The piece you see in the center at the bottom is a piece of the glacier that fell seconds before I got there. It is a lot of ice!!

This is a pic from the top of the Haystack trail...Beautiful hey.

This is a pic of the Eyak river from the Eyak River Trail.

Hope you liked those pics they weren't the best you'll have to wait for those till I get back. That is just some of the beautifulness(is that a word) that I have experienced so far. I really wish all you people were here you would love it. I miss you all...and I hope you can't wait till I get back. PEACE OUT!!

P.S. I finished here before midnight... HA, HA, HA!!!

God I hate you Randy...

First I'm totally jealous of your Yukon adventure. Second, I'm bored as shit out here without my Roll Dog. And third your brother doesn't like me hanging out at the apartment because we "don't do anything". COME HOME MOTHERFUCKER!
By the way, what the hell is a work group? Is it like a chain gang or something. You should fuck with them. Be all like "You eyeballin' me boy, can't concentrate on them weeds if you eyeballin'." You know give em the full Cool Hand Luke experience. When I come out there, and I'm comin next summer, I'm gonna tear that place up. I'm gonna hike 'til my feet fall of and I see a grizzly bear, or a moose or something.

R. Moe reporting from Alaska

So what is going on down there people? I see the WordSmith has been added to our blog. Let me be the first to say welcome aboard. I think you will be a nice addition to our little blog family.
Now onto more pressing matters. I was scheduled to begin my trip home this Sunday July 31; however, I have since decided to stay an additional week making my scheduled departure date August 7. I know it will be crushing to you all to have to live without me for another week but I think if you all pull together you can make it. Fight, fight for me.
So since my last blog I have actually hiked a few times 3 hikes to be more exact with many more to come next week since there will be no workgroup here. I will be posting pictures as soon as I transfer them to a CD and move them to another computer. It will be later today not sure when but later today for sure. I will now go into a little more detail about the hikes I went on. Read on if you like or don't up to you...

Wednesday
1st hike: Eyak River Trail -- 3.3 miles -- Difficulty: Easy
This trail was cool. The first 1/4 mile or os is pretty hard becauseyou are on a really muddy path with lots of things to climb over and streams to jump. But once you get past there it opens into a rolling muskeg meadow and you walk on boards. Now when I went on this trail I was with other people and we couldn't make it to the end of the trail because it was raining kinda hard and we had kids with us. So we made it about halfway through. Next week though I am going to get dropped off at the end of the trail and then hike back to the start so I can get the whole experience without the round trip nonsense. It was a fun time.

2nd hike: Haystack Trail -- 0.8 miles -- Difficulty: Moderate
Obviously the length of this trail makes it fairly easy; however, the fact that it is going up almost the entire way makes it a little difficult. I was sweating going up this trail but the view was worth it I thought. No wildlife could be spotted except for a few eagles far away. But the view was nice anyway and I have pictures they will be posted on the next blog. Anyway the way back down was easy I slipped though and got my jeans dirty it was still wet from the earlier rain. Anyway that was a pretty cool hike except for all the West Virginia workgroup we had to take some of them are super annoying. Oh well...

Thursday
3rd hike: Copper River Trail -- 0.8 miles -- Difficulty: Easy
This trail is short and super easy. It is out by Childs Glacier and the Million Dollar Bridge. Basically this is where the road goes no further. Anyway so we did this hike after we had luch out at the glacier. We had hot dogs roasted over an open fire and smores. A pretty big chunk of the glacier fell off and that was cool but other than that not a whole lot happened. I had a good time though it was cold but that is to be expected when you are across the river from a 300ft wall of ice. So that was a really easy hike though.
That's it for my hikes like I said pictures later today on my next blog so keep an eye out. I think I will go on another hike later tonight...maybe... but if not tonight definitely tomorrow.
I guess that is it California, you guys try to stay cool down there and help control the animal population by spaying and neutering your pets. BUH-BYE!!

P.S. I am changing my time on the blog while here so it is an hour behind if you care.

The Case of the Unknown T-shirt

Does anyone know what happened to this T-Shirt? It looks like a cool shirt, but I dont remember ever owning it or getting rid of it. Your assistance in this matter will be most helpful.

This is a call to all my past resignations

Man, as I look at the dashboard page on blogger, they have a blogs of note section. And when you go to those blogs they are nothing special but they have like 100 comments on every post. I don't know what to do to get that kind of attention, but goddamn it I want it. I think we need to step it up here people. We need to start talking about our lives in ways that make us seem interesting and intelligent and I think we need to start using punctuation a little better so we are comprehensible to those who don't know us. This is a call to arms. Lets get noticed. Rat Race on three...One...Two...Three...RAT RACE!

Easy Greasy

Well someone's got to blog something and it might as well be me since I don't have a goddamn thing to do all day until I go to work. I enjoyed dinner last night at Lauri's . We had burritos of the highest quality. Next week's dinner plans looks like its wide open since all my hours are on the weekend. So Randy, I thought you were gonna post some of the pics you're taking on the blog whats up. Since I didn't get to go to Alaska you could at least let me live vicariously. Man this is crazy I'm losing my fuckin mind. Alex is working Randy's on vacation and I haven't shaved or showered in three days and I've watched more TV these last two weeks than in the last six months. This whole crazy world has gone topsy turvy. I went hiking the other day but its so damn hot here I think I'm gonna get heat stroke. I know what I could do, I could go to the library and return my overdue book. But I haven't finished the book and there are going to be a lot of long boring hours this week at work and I'm gonna need something to read so maybe I'll keep the book until monday. I got it from some out of the way library branch anyway that I'll probably never have to go back to and pay the fine. I need to get in the shower now because I'm greasy. Greasy I tell you...greasy.

Alaska ain't that bad

Hi everybody. What is happening? Exciting things I am sure. I must confess not much has happened up here but I guess that is the point of moving to a small town, right?
On Saturday I helped my Dad, Uncle and cousin build a fence which I mentioned briefly in the last post I made. It was cool, it's good to build something with your hands every now and then, it gives you a sense of accomplishment. So that took most of the day it was a very elaborate fence I will take a picture so you can all see it when I get back. Then after the fence we came home and my cousin, John, his wife, Piper, and their son, Luke all came over for dinner. We had Kung Pao Chicken...it was good. Then after dinner Luke watched a video and my Mom, Piper, John and myself played a game by the makers of Cranium I can't remember what it's called something like Whooonu?? or something like that. It was fun. After all that excitement they headed home and that was the night.
Sunday was Church Day so that took up some of the day. After church though we went to lunch at my aunt and uncle's house. We had halibut steaks, mashed potatoes and salad...it was good. After that we had to go to the airport and pick up my other cousin and her family and some workgroup from West Virginia. So we did that and then went home had fish and chips from a place called "The Picnic Basket". It too was tasty. Then I watched some late night TV and went to bed.
Today it rained. Kinda sucky but what can you do? My dad and I spent the day trying to get my truck insured for the ride down. So we spent all day waiting for insurance people to call back this was all done while I sat in his office at The Cordova Chamber of Commerce. It wasn't the best time ever had but not too bad either. We have to wait till tomorrow to find out the results of the insurance search, I am sure everything will work out. So after all that we cam home had some Mac and Cheese...it was of course, say it with me...Goood. Then my mom and I watched a video while my Dad went to some Disaster Recovery team meeting or something. Now they are in bed it is not yet 11 here.
So tomorrow will hopefully be clear and if so we are going to go out to Child's Glacier (the one where huge chunks of ice fall off a lot) and take ppictures and what not also hopefully on the way out there we'll see some wildlife and I will get a few pics of those too. You know like moose, bear, etc. I might also go on a few small less than a mile hikes tomorrow depending again on the weather and other factors. It looks like I will be leaving here on Sunday as of now and heading back home.
I don't know though Life Outside the Rat Race really ain't that bad...

oh where oh where can my boyfriend be?

There is nothing more frustrating than trying to get ahold of someone. Pete doesn't have a cell phone and if he isn't at my apt. or his house than i have to call others and that's not cool. Its rude to call someone looking for someone else. And Pete won't tell anyone where he went or where he's going. I'm not saying that he has to check in or let me know where he is, but, if you don't have any way at all to get ahold of you then try to tell someone. Pete would have a cow if i wasn't answering my cell phone, if i wasn't picking up at home, and he called work and they said i wasn't here. Can you imagine!!?? Oh Where Oh Where Can My Boyfriend Be? That's all i have to say about that!

From AK Dawg

Wassup all my homies it is 10:30 time here in Alaska and the sun has not gone down yet. It is just starting to go and set. Crazy, huh? So what else basically my first full day was today and no hiking yet however we did go out to the lake and cruise around on my cousin's boat with some workgroup here from Kansas. That was cool.
Tomorrow I am going to help my Day, uncle and cousin set up a fence around my uncle's balcony cause one of my other cousins is coming to visit on Sunday and she has some young ones so just to be safe we will have that up. After that is over I may go on a short hike if I can, my parents won't let me hike alone they say it's dangerous so if I can grab someone to go with kinda annoying but what are you gonna do. Anyway I saw my car it looks all right I don't really like the shell so I might do away with that but we'll see.
I am going to start with the picture taking tomorrow and I will definitely post a few just to keep you guys reading my blog.
Pete good to hear you beat Sudoku, I am just bummed I couldn't be there to steal the credit, maybe next time. Lauri and Sheila you guys are having way too much fun at work. I am jealous. Alex the whole Haylie Duff thing I say go for it man don't let the man get you down!!
Alright guys well after a busy day of actually doing stuff I am kinda tired I think I will watch a little TV and then go to bed. I got a big day tomorrow. Peace out y'all and try to stay cool down there. BTW the high temp today was 71 degrees. Ouch that's gotta hurt!! This is R. Moe signing off and remember to spay and neuter your pets. Thanks.

Haylie Moe??

Hey guys what's up. I told you I might have some gossip for you. Well I have a big one. Haylie Duff I think likes yours truly. She was laughing after I made a comment when I was working on 7th Heaven. That's not enough? Let's look at some facts. I worked on Joan Of Arcadia before Haylie did and 7th heaven before Haylie did. Interesting? But anyway randy is gone and I'm stuck in this hot apartment alone. Pete what's up I called you I had a fun day planned for us. So maybe I'll catch a movie now. I work on some football movie with the Rock on monday so that should be cool. I'll probably catch The Island this weekend and maybe give it a review. But I'm afraid I'll let too much of the movie out and ruin it for anyone who might watch it (same thing as fantatic 4). I'll talk or see eveyone later. Maybe you'll see me with Haylie.

like molasses in winter...

today is oozing by! five o'clock is a joke right now. lauri and i only have our lunch hour to look forward to. i made tuna helper last night at 9:30pm. i stuck it in the fridge and scooped it all into a big ass tupperware bowl this morning. and knowing me and lauri, we'll eat every last saucy noodle... mmm. i'll report on it later.

before we eat though, we're going to payless to find me some moccasins! i just love those little dorky faux suede mocs. see pete? i'm a fucking nerd too... lol.

Terror Alert Update

Just wanted to note the Elevated Threat Level. Make sure to keep shopping or else THEY win.

Im am the Sudoku Champ

So I finally figured out how to conquer those Sudoku puzzles in the LA Times that me and Randy discovered last week. I started out with the a gentle one. I failed two moderate ones, but finally completed a moderate one last night. I'm looking forward to trying a tough one in this weekend's Times. I like the puzzles because i was never good at crosswords.
Sometimes I just sit back and think to myself..."Pete you are a real fucking nerd." Oh Well. I become less and less a closet nerd everyday. next thing you know I'm gonna be buying highwater Lee Jeans from Marshalls. Sorry Lauri.

It's HOT!

If i weren't inside an air conditioned building i think i'd die! Two days now where i've had to turn on my air conditioner as i drove to work at 8am. I think i've had my air conditioner on at my apt. the whole time. My planties are wilting. My fishies are hot too. I love seeing the huge thunderheads over the mountains though, Sheila can testify to that. I wish we got more crazy thunderstorms around here though. Apple Valley and Palm Springs get tons of them. Hopefully there won't be any fires around my house. We have a softball game this Sunday and i think its at 8:45pm this week. We need to win this one!! Last week it was terribly hot and we didn't do very well at all. So we'll see how this week cools down or steams up. I really really hope that Randy sends pictures from Alaska or brings some home. Get some recipes from your mom while your up there for dinner nights. Stay cool everyone and take care of your pets!

Insert Witty Title Here

Tomorrow I go to The Great White North a.k.a Alaska. My flight leaves at 6:30 AM which is so not cool. But oh well. I am basically going to chill out, cool down and get a car. I am pretty excited to be getting a car. If you know me expect rides people, expect rides.
Anyway I just wanted to get on and let everyone know that even though I will be far, far away I will remain dilligent in my blog duties. I will even post pictures of stuff I see while there...won't that be exciting.
So this week was pretty cool I got to go to San Mateo with the boys and let me tell you everything Pete wrote happened. It was all true. It got a little crazy. Well I am kind of getting really hot being this far away from the A/C. So I am going to sign off and go lie in front of the A/C. Peace out to all my homies and try to stay cool.

Riding and Fishing

Well, as it turns out I went for ride along the west fork river and a little fishing. The ride was a little bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I guess thats what I get for letting myself get so out of shape. I always get nervous going up there by myself. The first 100 yards of the ride is populated by the trashiest people you ever want to meet swimming and bathing in the river. But once you get past where the lazy fear to tread you have 5 miles of riverside riding almost completely to yourself. As I guessed the river was running a lot higher than it was last year and it semed like there were more good spots for fishing than in the past. It took me about a half hour of riding, averaging 9 miles per hour to reach the fishing hole I liked 4.5 miles into the ride. I anxiously got my pole together and threw it in the water. The best bait for this place is night crawlers but I've caught fish with salmon eggs before, which is what I was using today. Like I said yesterday I don't think I've ever come here without catching a fish, but today was just not to be. I couldn't even get a nibble. I suspect the hooks I was using were too big. I could see the fish in the water and I could spot them jumping for bugs but I couldn't get them to bite my line. It was fine, it was just nice being out of doors. After about an hour and half of fishing and unfouling my line. I decided to head upstream a little further and see if I could find a better spot. I found a nice little spot about a mile up the road with a little beach and everything. It felt promising, but alas I had no bites. After that I rode another half mile up the road to the campground that was there. Glenn Campground. It was empty as usual on a week day. I rode down fast, no hads coasting the five miles back to my car through the crowd of hillbillies and immigrant families and drove home.

Life...Outside the Rat Race

I'm contemplating a day out of doors tommorow (today for you readers). I can either head up the Angeles Crest to Switzer's camp and head up the trail. The canyon there is gorgeous, its nothing but mountains in every direction. A short walk up the canyon wall give you a perfect view of Switzer falls, one of the best in the Angeles. With all the run off this year the water will be flowing high and I might get my feet wet in the icy cold stream. The only problem is that its miles and miles before you actually get to any destination. Still it would be a nice walk. It's gonna be hot up there but the trail is mostly flat until you start heading back down to JPL.
The other option is to head up into the mountains on highway 39 out of Azuza. 30 minutes up the highway is the West Fork road. The road is perfect for a mountain bike and the San Gabriel river runs high here, largely undisturbed, especially a couple miles back. At about the 4.5 mile mark there is a nice little pool where I've never failed to pull a trout out of the river. If I left at 8 I could have my line in the water by 11 at the latest. Fish for a few hours and then be back home by 3:30 or four. With a quiet soul a nice tan and ready to go to work.

oh where, oh where have my little bloggers gone?...

i suppose an array of circumstances have prevented everyone from posting lately. you're all forgiven!

i hope dinner night wasn't a hoax. this week is already out and we've only gotten together once! but pete's deep fried piles of goodness will probably hold everyone over until next time. besides, i think lauri is still degreasing her kitchen floor... lol.

clearly no one wants to change our blogspot's template. well, no one male. that's fine, i wasn't a founder anyhow so i'll leave it to you guys! it's not like i wanted pink with flowers though. just for the record.

wow so randy's leaving on thursday! what are you going to do up there, randy? hollow out canoes?... carve some totems?... whatever transpires, you're coming home with a car. that's awesome. but then the job hunt starts upon return, huh? that sux. well you'll be missed.

holy shit! i just read pete's blog 'questioning reality'. the big question here is: what the fuck?! and in addition: does randy have alcohol poisoning? were you too drunk to care how your eggs tasted? did you guys seriously average thirty-six beers each? i'm horrified. but thank god you got back alive. albeit you're all about ten steps from a coronary!

Questioning Reality

While Randy and I were driving home from our little mini-break to San Mateo we had to ask ourselves the following questions to check the validity of our memories...

Did we, in fact, start drinking beer at 9am monday morning?

Did we really cook our eggs with beer instead of milk?

Did we really finish off 2 pounds of bacon?

Did we really walk two miles on a dry riverbed to the beach in, practically, the dark?

Did we really drink six 30 packs of beer?

Did Randy really vomit in his tent at 4:30 in the morning?

The Answer to all these questions was a startling...yes.

I'm BACK?

Hey guy's whats up. I've been so busy I've been working this whole week and now have a chance to write a little. I was working on a film called little miss sunshine a movie directed by those 2 people who directed all those smashing pumpkins videos (jonathan dayton and valerie faris). As a Pageant Patron!!! But whatever I met some cool people and also got a sag voucher( cuz I'm cool and nice). But it comes with a price. I got a flat tire on tuesday luckyI already parked. So I actually went to the mechanic today and my tire was still wobbly when I drove around the block. So i put on the spare tire and headed to work. So I'm getting a new tire tomorrow and getting my wheel alignment checked at to make sure they are not the problem. So now I'm back to work so maybe more interesting stories and celeb gossip. To keep up with the sadness blog i will quote a song by dropkick murphy's:... how simple life can be,somehow it all went wrong, and your plans just feel apart, and you ain't got the heart to finish what you started.

survey says:

hey folks. what do you think about changing our blog's template? i like the one with the black background and colored dots at the top. not that our spot doesn't rock already... but change is good. excercise your right to vote! please comment.

you're post was pretty deep, lauri. i guess i do need to make some changes in my life. but the timing is all wrong. so for now, i'll bitch on rat race. sorry everyone.

last night i went to that outdoor concert in the park with megan. we didn't get too many girl scout wannabes come up to our booth. but that's okay. we'll get 'em next week. the only lame thing was that classic rock was on the itinerary but it somehow morphed into mexican music. gee, how could that have happened? we were only in the heart of beautiful downtown ontario. but i'm painting a rather ghetto picture for you guys. it was actually really nice and i can't wait to go next wednesday. jazz is on the menu but who knows?...

Something for us all to think about!!

Have you all noticed that our blogs are very depressing lately? Randy blogs about how he does nothing all day, Sheila blogs about how slow everyday is and it sucks/stinks. I blog about how much i hate work and how sad i am about my herpes. Pete blogs about how society is fucked. This blog seems to be about how we are so not happy with ourselves and the way things are going in life. We are all very unhealthy people who hate where we are in life. How can we fix this??? Exercise? Better eating? Sucking it up and getting new jobs? Facing our fears? I know i fall into all these catagories. So what am i going to do about it? Well my doctor told me to eat better...the fucking doctor Lauri!!! Geez do i need to throw up my intestines to listen to the doctor? I joined a softball team for some outdoor fun and exercise. A new job? Well that goes along with the facing my fears. I would have to sacrafice a whole lot in order to leave my job. Will i be happier in the long run though if i do find another job? That's something i'll have to explore. So what about you guys? What are you gonna change? What fears are you going to conquer?

Whatever happened to movie quotes

"Litre, it's French for gimme some fuckin' cola..."
-Super Troopers

Here's Something Interesting

In the latest issue of Outside magazine it has an article about the "18 perfect cities that have it all". Guess what was one of them...home sweet home Pasadena. Right beside Portland, Oregon. Interesting that we want to leave this idyllic little spot. Maybe we just aren't appreciating what we have here. Oh wait the article lists the average home price in both Oregon and Pasadena...
Portland: $203,600
Pasadena: $509,200
Anybody plan on being a millionaire? Then you can stay.

YO!!

Wassup peoples? It's Wednesday, for people who actually have a job it means the week is half over. Go you important people!
So again I am sitting at home doing nothing. You must be getting tired of me saying that. But it's true. I guess I could go watch TV but don't want to. So I am here instead. Unfortunately listening to iTunes with nothing to write and sweating not as much fun as I had imagined. I could go somewhere if I owned a vehicle but that's right I don't own a vehicle. Damn this blows.
You know what though I am complaining now cause I have nothing to do but if and when I get a real job I will complain then cause I have to go to work. It is impossible for me to be happy, wow that was deep.
I don't know I am on such a downer tip right now. I am sorry I should be more positive who wants to read a post about how I am impossible to make happy. So on to more positive things:

1. Dinner night was a clear success I would say. I think everyone would agree with me on that. Comments are welcome.
2. My ticket to Alaska was finalized yesterday and I am departing July 21. Finally I will have a car and be able to look for a job.
3. It's late-night hump day happy hour at the Crown tonight. I won't be there but have fun
4. I finally got my paycheck today and realized how little I get paid.
5. The Gorillaz are telling me to feel good.

Ok so that was pretty much the highlight of the blog. As I said dinner night was a success and I look forward to next week. It's my turn isn't it? If so not so excited cause I have to come up with something but have no fear I will and it will be good hopefully. Ok I got to go now cause Coldplay is on now and if I stay on too long I will get depressed again and start bringing everyone down with me. Have a great day people and remember to spay and neuter your pets. Bye bye!!

tuesdays suck: volume 2

what the hell is it about tuesdays? you know, lauri and i used to have workdays where the hours went by so fast we'd call it a "time warp". tuesdays are the polar opposite.

megan and i went to a basics training class last night for our new girl scout troop. i swear... this is the mother of all schkemes! a super schkeme. the only difference is that i can't back out! so we were broken up into groups and given handouts to work on. i hate that shit. not to mention the fact that megan and i were seperated. anyhow, we had to come up with resolutions to scenarios like: "your girls all decided they want to go on a saturday hike. but suzie is in a wheelchair. what do you do?" megan was in the funny group. i could overhear them and those broads were ruthless! one lady said to kick suzie out! lol. but my group members were all serious. this one chick, shannon, was like, "oh this is easy. i work for the forestry service. ever since the americans with disabilities act passed, we enforce wheelchair accessible paved hiking trails blah blah blah..." *sigh* it was a long meeting.

but tonight, my friends, is our inaugural dinner night! so i'll see you all then.

Don't forget

Hey Sheila and Lauri don't forget Tuesday night: Chicken Fingers and fries. Don't miss it!!

The Trials and Tribulations of Tetanus (and alliteration)

I don't have anything funny or important to say but I wanted to post anyway. It was a fun sunday and I was very proud of Lauri for getting out there and trying something new. I can't wait to see the rest of the games. Today was the start of Trash removal week at our house. It looks like the giant roll off bin we got is going to fill up before we have all the trash out there but we'll do our best. I took a rusty nail through my shoe and into my foot in the process. I hope my tetanus is updated, I might end up with lock jaw. Tommorow I hope we finish the job. Randy is going to come over tommorow and help. He was supposed to come today but the damn bin didn't get there until 2:30 so we didn't work for very long. At least I didn't because I had to go to work. I'm going to come up with something funny to blog about while I'm here at work but until then...

real quick:

have you guys seen how many posts have been posted so far on 'rat race'? 227! wowsers.

Long time no posts

So I know it has been like forever since my last post. I have been too busy doing nothing. People don't realize how much effort doing nothing really takes. You have to find little things to plan your day around or else you lose track and ten you end up actually doing something. Thus negating the doing nothing policy.
Anyway a lot has happened since I last posted but since you have been keeping up with reading the blog I don't need to reiterate everything you have already read. However I am going to elaborate on the weekend and how much fun I had.
So the weekend for me pretty much started on Thursday with The Seamus Special. BTW look to the future post of pics of the night. That will be one for the ages. I am not going to talk about cause Pete pretty much summed it up with a great post.
The there was Friday more or less very unexciting. Pete had to work that night so basically when he got off Lauri, Pete and I went to Tower Records but found nothing good. Then we went to Tommy's came back to my house, they ate and we just hung out. Then they went home and that was my Friday.
On Saturday Pete had to work again this time though I had something to do. During the day on Saturday I sorta cleaned up, I picked up a bunch of crap on the floor and tidied up a little. I am going to spend this week cleaning everything cause my apartment need to be in tip-top shape when dinner night moves here. So rather than do it all last minute I figure plan ahead then keep it clean. Smart I know. Moving along though Saturday night my brother and I went to The Crown and met up with Lauri and Sheila. I had a good time it was nice to get out of the house and chill with good friends. I drank a lot and had chicken fingers it was a good time.
Sunday I was really looking forward to. It went pretty much according to plan. We got to Tims house a little before 3 and immediately I started drinking as usual. Some people were there getting ready for the softball game Lauri alluded to in her previous post. Eventually we all rolled over to Sierra Madre and watched them play softball. It was fun I had a good time. I will reserve any derogatory comments about the other team for myself. As well as any derogatory comments I want to make about a certain person in the stands with us. Anybody who was with us knows who I am refering to. No need to spell it out. After the game we went back to Tim's house a little bummed cause they lost but everybody had a good time and really that is all that matters. At Tim's house we started drinking and ordered a grip of pizza, buffalo wings and salad. It was very tasty. We just continued doing that (drinking) till the night closed in. Once I was fully satisfied with my drinking I headed home and went to bed. Great night.
So in summation this was a very good weekend. It was awesome Sheila got to make it out, I haven't seen her in like 3 years. just kidding. I got to hang out with all my buds on Sunday and what could be better than that.

open the barn door...kick out the hay!

good job on your first game, lauri! practice makes perfect- you'll be better next time.

so i ended up spending most of the weekend with you party people. too bad i don't live closer, it was fun. sports, friends, pizza, and beer = a winning combination.

hey, i have a question about our weekly dinner night: does the person hosting have to come up with the menu or can we put in requests? cuz i'm good at cooking, but i suck at coming up with ideas.

by the way, pete, you can totally crash out on my couch after getting hammered and staying up all night. but you might wake up with 'balls' written on your forehead.

my first game...ever!

Well guys I did it, sorta. I'm on an actual team! A softball team. Ya know I was and still am not a big fan of playing or even watching baseball or softball. Its just not my first choice of a sport I'd like to play. But this team has all my friends in it. I mean practically all of my friends. And those who are not on the team are in the bleachers. Its fun. I however suck ass. There is no way to describe how shitty I felt when I struck out the first time I went up to bat. And another scary fact about how I know nothing of playing this sport, when I went up to bat the very first time ever during a game that actually had rules and scoring (not a game you play with family at Easter when your 11) I didn't know if I had to stand in the box or outside of the box with the plate. Pretty bad huh? I was very close to even asking the umpire where I stand but decided to stand in the box. I remembered that the pitcher won't throw the ball if you stand outside cuz that means your not ready yet. So I totally struck out and felt absolutely horrible. Apparently as the game went on my energy level dropped and it was noticeable. I just felt like I wasn't keeping up with everyone else, in many ways. I couldn't hit the ball, I couldn't throw, I couldn't catch. And the worst thing about it is that I'm one of five girls on the team and I'm practically always up to bat. I guess I should practice and lift weights too cuz I am so sore today. My arms hurt and my ribs hurt. We ended up losing the game but not by much, which was cool. Our next game isn't for another couple of weeks, I should practice. I'd like to thank those who came out to support me and the team. We definitely heard your cheers! Especially me. :)

do it.

oh i'm offering alright. cuz up until last night i thought there was no way you'd drive all the way to upland for a beer! but now i know better. so you're all invited! besides, if my house bores us, there's a bar in pomona called 'friar tucks' that we can go to. it looks like a castle. enough said.

anyhow, great blog pete. and you're beer by beer posting got rave reviews also. looks like you're having the best week ever! by the way, i liked your idea on getting together for dinners. lauri thinks it's schkeme.

The Seamus Special

Last night at Randy's was a fucking rager. We were determined to do someting other than watch TV but we didn't know what to do. I claimed that if Randy only had a little vodka around I could come up with some good ideas. So Randy said that if I would drive to the store he would buy the vodka. So I agreed and we got a bottle of Absolut. When we got back I'm not sure how it happened we decided to play a little poker with a $5 buy in. The only problem was that Alex refused to buy in with paper money so he gathered $5 in nickels and dimes. Poker was awesome, we listened to a little G n' R and a little Weezer. Two very important things came out of that game. The first was Alex's new nickname. He is now and forever to be called "Seamus" (pronounced Shay-mus) or just "Irish" for those of you who are like me and are into racial slurs against western Europeans. I've also been given a nickname (Pete the Pirate) but I don't think its gonna stick. The other important thing is that we learned how to use a new word. Corpulent. It means fat.
Nay way I cleaned those fuckers out in poker. Actually, I cleaned Randy out but Alex was down and quit before the game was over so he walked away with a couple of bucks in change. I feel bad for cleaning Randy out since he paid for the Vodka, but what the hell he'll get me next time.
We've decided that once a week one of us is going to cook for the others at someone's house. Lauri and Sheila you're in this too. The first one will be next week sometime and will be at Lauri's house. I will be cooking chicken fingers and French fries. More on that to come.
What else can I say about last night? I don't know we played some bones and Seamus beat us very badly. I think it was because I was too drunk to reason clearly at that point.
SHIT! I almost forgot our walking trip to 7/11. A drunken schkeme if there ever was one. Randy bought a 40 of Mickey's even and some flamin hot cheetos. Alex got a slurpee. I got a bottle of Gatorade, hostess cupcakes and some porkrinds. It was great. We were taking pictures last night with a roll of film that Randy bought so you'll get to see a photo journal of the whole thing someday. We forgot to take the camera to 7/11 so we could get a picture with the clerk but thats probably for the best.

Shiela what the hell is a tchotckie. And be careful when you offer your place for a party because we'll come over. Don't think we won't....because we will. What happens in Upland stays in Upland.

it was the best of times... it was the worst of times.

hey guys! my parents are going out of town tomorrow-- party at my place!

i can't believe the week is gone already. but boy, am i glad. you know how it goes... you love your family but you love it when they go away too. this time around really tried my patience. and i realized that i'm going to be an old maid! i like living alone a little too much (evident by the way i want to throw my parents out on their keasters). all that's missing is perfectly placed tchotckies and a few cats.

thanks so much for coming out last night, pete! i know it was a long wait in traffic just to eat pizza! oh and thanks for exposing my most embarrassing moment ever. that was a hoot. really. and lauri totally treated everyone! that was super nice of her. it contradicted her nickname: lauri poory.

No Blogs??

Sheila and i are disappointed that there weren't any blogs posted yesterday and last night. Now i know for a fact that there were three bloggers in one house for most of yesterday and no one jumped on the computer? That's so sad. You should be ashamed of yourselves, especially since Pete talked about the lull in blogs lately. So i just wanted to say that Sheila and I are keeping an eye out today for some stories of what you all did yesterday and last night.

How about this?

This blog goes along the lines of what Pete was saying. Its a great example. Today in London someone decided to not be responsible and made a choice to kill people by blowing them up as they went to work. And on a side note, if i was killed on my way to work or on my way home from work, that would be freakin horrible. No one wants to go to work, and to be killed when going is just a slap in the face by God. So anyways, an attack in London got a couple of co-workers talking for a minute about it. Their Republicans, maybe that does or doesn't have anything to do with it, but they said that we just need to totally blow up Afghanistan with bunker bombers. Now as far as i know this minute, did Afghanistan do the London deeds? I don't think they know how it even happened yet. Its just people being afraid. You know we (USA) piss people off , it doesn't mean that we should be murdered. Just like my friends and family piss me off, but i'm not going to invite them to a party then kill them. Ok now maybe i'm starting to stray off the subject, but what i'm trying to say is that it just sucks. No law abiding citizen deserves to die. Its a fucked up world sometimes.

Wrap Your Head Around This.

Something rather profound occurred to me today and it has to do with Spiderman...Sort of.

As I drive by the little church on Sierra Madre Blvd. And Michillinda, I always like to check out the title of the next Sunday's sermon. The Pastor or whatever always tries to make it something clever. I can't even remember what it was today but I remember it got me thinking about what a cool job being a pastor is if you think about it. For one hour every week you get to tell people how to live their lives and that's your job. I thought what a tremendous amount of responsibility the Pastor has not to abuse that power. Its like Stan Lee said in the first issues of Spiderman comics "With great power comes great responsibility. But then it occurred to me. The Pastor can say whatever he wants for that hour but the second you step out of that Church, your actions are in your hands and the responsibility for your actions lies solely with you. Then I began to think how much power we wield in our daily lives; so much so that the Pastors powers seem extremely weak by comparison. Think about it. Every time you get behind the wheel of a car you have the power to take someone's life. And its not even the big things like that. You have the power to determine whether the people who work and live around you will have a good or bad day, sometimes solely by your actions. If you were so inclines you have the power to start a forest fire and probably never get caught. So many things we have the power to do but never even consider doing.
We think of responsibility as something to do with ourselves in the sense that we are responsible for getting ourselves to work on time, or turning in an assignment on time. But really responsibility has to do with our actions towards others. I have the power to insure that the person in the cubicle next to me has a rotten day at work, but I'm responsible enough with that power that I don't use it. I have the power to cut in line in front of weaker people at the supermarket or Gas station. But I'm responsible enough not to use that power.
I was suddenly fascinated by how much power the average person has and how much responsibility the average person exercises not the use that power to make others unhappy.
I'm not really sure how to put it in to words but I just had never thought before how much responsibility has to do with morality.

Somethin Or Nothin

Hey guys! Nothin has happened in my life. I have to work 3 days next week on somethin called Little Miss Sunshine. What the hell is that? That's all I know of to report. My agent says I have no auditions cuz my look is so unique she's lookin for the perfect one for me. I guess it'sgood but I would like to go to some auditions at least for feedback from casting directors. Friday I got somethin me and a couple of friends are seein the fantastic4 which should be fun. Nate's girlfriend is gone so we will probably get drunk too. But I don't know. that hottie from my commercial workshop e-mailed me just to replyto a what's up. I wanna e-mail her again I need help. What should i say to her? Real things too (Pete I'm lookin your way)

Family and Work

Well this week i'm not an orphan. My mom and dad are here, along with my sister and the family dog Millie! I freakin adore that doggie. There just kinda hangin out and seeing the usual sites. My sister met up with a friend and went to an Angels game yesterday. Seems like they are having an ok time. I figure that they would be doing this kinda thing cuz who wants to go home and need a vacation from their vacation. I think we all know this feeling. I've been seeing them here and there. Other than that its the usual going to work and then falling asleep when i drive home. I had a meeting today with one of my vendors. He's making a product for us. On Friday i have another meeting with a customer this time. He wants to come over and use some of my equipment to see if he wants to buy one. Apparently we are the first ones to use one of these machines so sometimes other people come and check it out instead of trying to get someone to come to them...understand? nevermind. I'm so tired that my brain just isn't working anymore. I can't wait to head home. So i think i'll leave it there. Thanks for listening.

A blog gone wrong!

When i was trying to think of something to blog i thought that i had the perfect thing. I can blog about my day on Friday. But then as i thought more on it i realized that everyone had heard it already, well the four of us anyways. Then i figured that maybe other bloggers out there would like to hear of my adventures. So here i go. Friday i worked a double. Eight hours then what should have been another four hours turned into five hours. I worked hard and steady at my regular job. We've been having very busy Friday's lately...and Monday's and Tuesday's, well you get the idea. We had a party for June and July birthdays. That was fabulous..NOT. So after that day i went to work for the night. A pretty laid back show....................................................................... then i stopped writing. I originally started this blog on Tuesday at 9am and never got around to finishing it. Its now Wednesday 4pm. How sad that i can't even finish a story. So i'm not going to even bother writing what happened on Friday, its a week old almost. To sum it up, it was a long tiring day and this week is pretty similar. I'm going to end this blog and write a new, fresh, updated one. bye!

dang, pete

good impression of a 'sex and the city' episode! your blog sounded just like one of carrie's articles! you guys do drink a heck of a lot. and if i lived closer, i'm sure i would too... lol.

*sigh*... there is a lull in postings. lauri and i have been running around like a couple of crazies here at work. but that's not my excuse. my reason is that i have nothing interesting to say lately. nothing! i have to ask lauri for a jumping off point to even get started! now that's sad. i have no jokes, no funny stories, no anecdotes, nothing.

hey randy, you never did list the five cds you'd want on your deserted island. what's up with that?

A Warning and an Ultimatum...

I don't like to see this lull in postings. I know we're all very busy but lets keep our priorities straight shall we. I went hiking the last couple of days to first water. You think that hike would be cake after Half Dome (yes, I'm still talking about half dome) but yesterday it kicked my ass, probably because it was 90 degrees out and I had like 10 beers the day before. Apparently I'm a bad influence on Lauri because her mom thinks she drinks too much. All this time I've been saying that Lauri doesn't drink enough. Here's a question to bring us all down..."Do we drink too much? " We (at least me and Randy) get drunk generally once a week. Is that too much for people our age. Are we desperately trying to hold on to our college age years and living the lives of high school kids? Did all of us nerds in highschool miss something that we are now making up for? Sometimes I think so. Would we all be rich and successful if our clarity of mind were maintained for more that 4 days in a row? Think about it. I mean Really think about it.

P.S. WHO'S UP FOR HUMPDAY HAPPY HOUR!! (wink wink, nudge nudge!)

Beer by Beer

On Friday last Randy Alex and myself went on a beery adventure. Here is a beer by beer account of the night.

The First Beer
The first beer was a toss-up between a Redhook and a PBR. The first beer always determines what kind of night you're going to have. Redhook says hardcore drinking, you get drunk fast and keep going hard you are going to get fucked up. PBR says you wanna take it slow and keep a nice eve pace through the evening. You want to get drunk but you don't mind if it takes awhile. I choose PBR in a last minute decision.

The Second Beer
With the second beer, you have the option of changing your pace. Maybe that first beer didn't so waht you wanted it to do. Or maybe someone just kicked it up a notch and you need to keep pace. By my second beer I was doing just fine and had a nice order of Chicken Fingers and fries. My second beer was again a PBR.

The Third Beer
By your third beer you are pretty much locked in. By this time the bartender knows what you're drinking and will practically refill it without asking. This is what happened to me, I don't remember ordering a third PBR but lo and behold there one was.

Intermission
Here's the dilemma of the crown city brewery. If you've got your lots of your friends there it can be the best place in the world. But on a slow night when its full of strangers, it can get boring fast. On this particular friday night things were slow. We got bored. We moved on. This is in itsel somewhat amazing. Once I'm in a comfortable situation its very hard to get me out of it. But tongiht was a magical night of beery adventure, so we hit the streets of pasadena and headed for Lucky Bladwin's

The Fourth Beer
I know I sais earlier that one your third beer you are locked in but a change of venue can clear the slate. The next beer...Stella Artois. A beer notable for not only for its flavor, but for it's penchant for fucking you up. With this choice of beer we asserted our willingness to push past the edge. After all we had just walked a whole 100 yards without a beer, we had to catch up. Lucky B's serves thier beer slightly warmer than the crown and I like my Stella cold.

The Fifth Beer
The Fifth beer went in three different directions. Randy stuck with the Stella Alex went with a Newcastle and I went with a Craftman's ale called orange grove. An orangy tasting hefeweizen. This was after all a night of beery adventure. The fourth and fifth beers were served by one of the largest women I have ever seen. She had problems pulling beers from the tap, on Randy's second Stella she pulled three-quarters foam. But she was quick and polite so a little foam can be forgiven.

Intermission the Second
Nothing against Lucky Baldwin's but it was as dead that night as the crown was and on top of that, there was a tinge of vomit in the air. Besides I was starting to get a little worried about how trashed my beery adventure was getting me. If I was going to get hammered then by god it was going to be at my home base. The crown city brewery. We were once gain free on the streets of Pasadena.

The Sixth Beer
By the time we had gotten back to the Crown I was definitely feeling the effects of out adventure thus far. (Damn you Stella, you did this to me!) So what do you do when you are really too fucked up to keep drinking but then again its too early to go home. You need some light, but you don't want the adventure to end. Well my friend, thats when you hit up the tecate. Its the lime that makes it good.

The Seventh Beer
The seventh beer lkie any last beer was a mistake. It was only ordered because I didn't want to order just one beer back at the crown...its rude. So with one more Tecate in me, Randy doubled over with intestinal problems, Alex getting sick of us and Lauri newly arrived but tired from work. We go our separate ways.

ah fridays...

the light at the end of the tunnel. hi everyone! tonight i'm going out with megan's family to some 4th of july thing at the altadena golf course. food and fireworks... should be fun. and if tim has a gathering at his pad this weekend, i can't make it... bummer. but the fam is coming and i must prepare. my parents haven't seen the place i'm living in now so i guess i should make a good first impression or something. i'll have to prep them for the dumpster diver though. 6:30am wake up call! i hate that f*cker.

i've got a busy saturday planned- ikea, home depot, bed bath & beyond if there's time. lol. no, really. megan and doug are picking me up tomorrow and we're going to hit up a 'sale' at ikea. of course a sale at ikea means $0.25 toilet brushes, tiny mix-n-match plastic cereal bowls, and ten bucks off an entire kitchen cabinet remodel. so... i think we're just going to look.

have a super weekend you guys. i'll be thinking about ya'll while i spend quality time with my mom and dad. don't be jealous. remember: fireworks and inebriation don't mix. bye!

Stuck on a desert island...

If you were stuck on a desert island and could only bring 5 CD's to listen to for the rest of your life what would they be?

There are only 2 rules

1. No greatest hits albums
2. No homemade compilations

Have fun. My list will be ready tonight.

Friday

Hi everybody. Now you say "Hi" back. Excellent. So another Friday is upon us and the weekend has begun. Now the topics shift from work to what to do especially since it is the 4th of July weekend. This weekend we celebrate out Independence Day! Just like Bill Pullman said in ID4.
Anyway so today Pete has to work till like 8pm and Lauri has to work till like 10 or so I am guessing. So that means it it me and my brother till then. I don't really have any idea what we are doing. Probably watch TV which is beginning to annoy me. You know how you can only do something so long before it just starts to annoy you beyond all belief. Well TV is getting there, nothing good is ever on. It is amazing I know it's summer and all. I get like one good night of Tv a week the rest of the time SUCKS! Somebody back me up here, am I alone?
Anyway I am looking forward to this weekend because I think Tim is having a thing at his pad on Sunday for the 4th although I am not sure so don't quote me boy I ain't said nothing yet. To the regulars who read this blog you should be there.
I leave with you with one question: What is the meaning of life? Somebody help me out...

In a perfect world

In a perfect world you'd be able to take all those little crumbs left at the bottom of a bag of chips and exchange them for the eqivalent amount of whole chips. Wait...maybe you can do that...anyone ever tried it? You could be like "I have a complaint, I paid for all these chips and these ones were pulverized." Free bag of chips to anyone who tries it.