Life Outside the Rat Race

A Top Eleven List for 2011

2011-12-29T14:52:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, Happy Christmas and New Year to everyone! I haven't seen most of you all in a minute (for reals) and I hope you all have had a warm and lovely holidays. A lot of great things happened this year.

To reflect on simple and good things and to honor the year 2011, I have decided to make a Top Eleven (and a half) list of my favorite meals of the past year (in some kind of order I guess, not necessarily from cheaper to more expensive, as I did not have to pay the big bucks for some of these if you'll read.)

11. Las Cazuelas, 5707 North Figueroa Street, Highland Park (L.A.), CA
Great mix of Mexicano and Salvadoreno food. You can share three pupusas (awesome if you had not yet had them with the salsa roja and pickled cabbage...go now, anywhere they serve them), a coctel de camarones (shrimp cocktail) and platanos fritos (fried plantains) for LESS THAN $18. I AM FULL each time.

10. Folliero's 5566 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park (L.A.), CA
This spot literally is two blocks from Cazuelas. A couple of things: this might be, pound for pound pricewise and tastewise, the best pizza in the area. I love ordering anchovies and dicing them up into the clam pasta with white sauce. AND THEY DON'T CHARGE a corkage fee for wine. Folliero's, how I adore thee.

(9 1/2. At home, I made Tortilla Soup a couple of times, and it is a fave. It is cheap to do and takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to prepare. Also, there is soup for days afterward. Here is the recipe from Bigoven.com: link

9. also loved anytime my fiancee made arroz caldo, a filipino stew comprising rice and chicken, ginger and onions, lots of lemon and some potatoes. Then you top it with chopped green onions and fried minced garlic. It is so damn good, but I can't divulge her recipe; we can say that she prefers to use chicken thighs as they don't dry out and get tough and stringy like chicken breast sometimes can. Click for a picture and description of this yumminess. Some Asian countries know this dish as congee.)

8. Gaja Moc 2383 Lomita Blvd, Lomita, CA
Japanese plates can be enjoyed here. The Okonomiyaki here is great, especially for the reason that you cook it yourself on a (VERY) hot grill in the middle of your table. Their food is so tasty and there are many options to choose from. I also savored the takoyaki. I will be coming back here very soon.

7. 15.quince grill and cantina 363 Main St., Jerome, AZ
Earlier this past spring I visited parts of Arizona with the school. I took the kids to a former mining town (once one of the richest in the whole world during boomtimes) called Jerome. Now it is an artist's enclave that sports one of the best Mexican restaurants I have ever had the pleasure of trying. Killer salsa verde!!! Also incredible crucifix art, which is probably no longer up, but I bought one for my mom. Want to visit here in the winter time. Streets are so steep.

6. A Ri Rang Tofu House 529 E Valley Blvd., Ste 128, San Gabriel, CA
This was the second Korean tofu soup place I had been to. The girlfriend (at the time she was not yet betrothed to me) suggested, and you might as well consider me a delighted little Korean girl at one of these places. The soup is steaming, bubbling hot when it gets to your table, and the little plates of chilled banchan offer little different counterpoints to this awesomeness. OMG for reals KK.

5. Bacaro LA 2308 S Union Ave, near downtown Los Angeles, CA
Just a cool, cool place that serves all kinds of wine and beers while really focusing on serving great food. Just go look at the reviews from this link. The servings are tapas-style (standouts include the burger--it has a fried egg atop it, the mac and cheese, and the chicken piccata-style dish) though this is an Italian-inspired place. Don't go expecting huge portions and enjoy the huge tastes.

4. The Park Restaurant 1400 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park (L.A.), CA
I officially proposed to my fiancee here (just for good measure, she said "yes" twice that day). They have a thing for Friday dinners called Supper Club which included four courses (dessert is one of them) that were all completely solid. I had the Caesar salad, some nice veggies, a Chilean Sea Bass and a scrumptious dessert for only 20 bucks! I think this deal is 15 dollars on Tuesday nights!

3. Kous Kous 3940 4th AV #110, San Diego, CA
Went here twice in the past year. If you have never tried Moroccan food before, make this a first stop with complete confidence. The Moroccan mint tea will chill you out, or you can get your krunk on with one of many signature cocktails they serve. There is a family meal with three or four courses that is just BOMB. BOMB.

2. Mon Ami Gabi-Paris Hotel and Resort 3655 Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV
If I knew a French dude who could cook up a steak and french fries like that, I would want him to be my homey, too! One of the few times she and I ate red meat this year, and it was totally worth it. Only qualm was that we thought we'd reserved an al fresco (outside) table to watch the jumping water show across the street at the Bellagio, but had to settle for listening to the music and catching glimpses of it from inside. Flourless chocolate cake was impressive and I had to be wheeled around Vegas for the rest of the night. Couldn't even play Pai Gow no mo'.

1. Saison 2124 Folsom St., San Francisco, CA
Three things:
First, they are a 2 Michelin star-rated restaurant. Second, the fiancee's brother works there; thus, our entire meal was comp'ed. Last, it was the single most interesting and memorable dining experience I have ever had. It was a 15-course meal (and red, red wine) and just about knocked us out. In a good way. youtube video

SO... there is it! I hope you enjoyed the list. I have to go exercise now.

Fall 2011

2011-12-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

Alison is 1 year old!!!!

2011-10-14T13:55:00.001-07:00

2011-08-20T11:20:00.001-07:00

2011-08-20T11:19:00.001-07:00

2011-08-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Moving Out

2011-07-27T13:27:00.001-07:00

Moving into a new place should be fun, shouldn't it? It's easy to move all of the heavy furniture and wrap up the glassware, fun to pack up all of the belongings and donate or otherwise trash things you don't necessarily need any more, and inspiring to make a needed change in your living quarters. Am I right?

People who think this way have probably never moved before. Knowing a lot of us Rat Racers, I have seen that moving is a necessary evil (maybe even beneficial?) from time to time. Having known many of you for years, of course we've gotten new roommates, wanted bigger apartments (or houses), broken up with significant others, and even gotten jobs or situations many hours (sometimes many hundreds of miles) away. And we all know one thing: Moving sucks donkey balls. Changing addresses, being uprooted, feeling like you live in a hotel...not to mention all of the work involved in dealing with the various things and trinkets one amasses over the years. Among this trove of goodies, for me at least, is included:

1 Ronco Pocket Fisherman (piece of crap)
a Chinese Lunar New Year red Lantern
a framed portrait of Vito and Michael Corleone
a pair of Perfect Pushups
a massive collection of porno magazines my cousin left with me when he and wife had a baby (he didn't want the poor child thinking her father was a sex-crazed weirdo)
too many baseball cards and comic books. Why did I buy the cards? At least I can read the comix on the toilet.
a Ripstick (kind of like a skateboard, except deadlier.)

I had confiscated that last item from a kid who was subsequently kicked out of school for brandishing a fake I.D. and getting caught trying to buy liquor for a hotel room party. I have also acquired other types of contraband, such as a pair of scissors from a kid who was threatening to stab one of his dormmates with a shiv. The two had started an argument with racial slurs that included an octopus and some of the usual epithets we hear all the time. The dormmate had protected himself by fending the interloper off with an aluminum baseball bat, which I also confiscated.

This last episode is what sent me over the feeling of wanting to move away from dorm and relinquishing my responsibilities of taking care of these international students to actually taking steps to move away and get my own place. There are three things I knew I would not miss about being a dorm father once I tendered my resignation letter: getting knocks at my door at all hours of the day when I was on duty (and also frequently when I was off), having my weekends taken over by supervising/taking kids on trips, and the dreaded post-midnight fire alarm.

Being a dorm father means that you are these children's parents, basically. First and foremost, you are there to provide discipline in times when they need to do homework because all they want to do is play video games. It is hard to pry a kid from the World of Warcraft, for example. Also, you have to resolve conflicts between those who have had things stolen and those you have suspected have stolen, after you have determined that they have, in fact, stolen. You are also there to provide a shoulder to cry on, a presence in the emergency room, and above all, a listening ear. I have dealt with kids who are struggling with the fresh onslaught of adjusting to the amount of work that high school classes present; seen broken noses, compound fractures, and a case of pneumonia; and advised a teen through losing his best friend because they were both getting played by a neighborhood floozy. It's hard and unforgiving work, but it is rewarding to see the kids start making their own decisions and dealing with their consequences. It's the only way to learn! Although most times the kids don't even realize you are helping them, and you realize what it feels like to be taken for granted, eventually they come to their senses and thank you for your help. It's eventually rewarding. Yet there are also fun times.

A lot of time as a dorm father I spent driving on trips. Trips to the mall, the ice skating rink, Tokyo Town. These comprise whole weekends. It was nice to get some spending money and head out once in a while, but I am sure that I will be loving having ALL of my weekends free from now on! Although it was nice to get to a place and telling the students to scram for a while, it is time to start rediscovering the real meaning of TGIF.

Finally, the fire alarm. This was no ordinary alarm. This was my nemesis, whisking me from my dreams to a place where I stuporically looked for some pants, stumbled out of my apartment while yelling, as loud as I could, "Fire! Everybody out!" then running to the school's kitchen to find out that some senior has been smoking cigarettes in the north wing bathroom again and silence that sunuvabeeyotch.

I have less than I week to live (at the dorm) now. Although this has made me into a different (perhaps more responsible) person, I can't want to see what kind of person I will be once out of the dorms again. Perhaps more appreciative of the quiet, perhaps a bit better equipped for adulthood. We'll see.

Upon Re-Watching TRON: Legacy

2011-07-09T23:14:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about how much The Matrix must have been influenced by the original TRON and how much TRON: Legacy takes from The Matrix. I recently re-watched TRON: Legacy on DVD and found it to be not the hot mess that I remembered from the theater. I might have been projecting my frustration about having to wear sunglasses during a movie that takes place almost completely in the dark on to the content of the film. I have to say that even on just plain old DVD the movie looks awesome, visually its a pretty unique experience. I can't say anything about the soundtrack except that its amazing and perfect for the movie.
I remember thinking that Jeff Bridges performance in particular was completely muddled and inconsistent, but I didn't find it to be the case this time around. It's not his best work, but it's TRON so just be glad he came back for the sequel.

Don't get me wrong, its far from a perfect movie, there are a lot of "huh?" moments in there. I think that primarily because there are about 3 movies going on at the same time. I know that a TRON sequel has been in development for about 10 years. (My TRON DVD has a teaser for something called TRON: Killer App.) I think what probably happened was that the script in its current form is an amalgam of about 3 or 4 different scripts.

I will say that my biggest frustration with the new TRON is that the story of the character Tron is missing. He has transformed into something called The Rinzler and has a last minute realization/ redemption but then dies, seemingly. I would have liked to see the backstory on that.

Some bullshit

2011-05-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Some of you know (because I love to brag about it) and some of you don't know, but I am part of a team that is opening a new school next year. This school is run by teachers so we get to do all of the work hiring more teachers for our program.

So I got a resume from someone who is looking to get a math teaching job. I'm trying to not violate confidentiality, so I'm going to be intentionally vague. This applicant graduated from a certain famous technical school on the east coast that is a rival to the very famous technical school that is very close to where. Said person then went on to get a teaching credential and masters from another very prestigious university on the east coast. Think about the one people consider the best school in the country. That's the one. Not only does this person have this ridiculous education, but this person also has a ton of experience in the community where our school is volunteering in many non-profit organizations that I know and respect. The resume literally includes experience watching over the performance of space shuttle engines as they are in flight. And this person wants to teach math in a high school in a poor area of the east valley. The exact person our government talks about wanting to get into teaching math in our schools.

Oh, and I can't hire this person because of budget cuts and contract seniority rules.

Welcome to our American system of education.

The "Gastropub"

2011-05-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

I object to restaurants call themselves "gastropubs". First of all, the term "gastro" makes me think of flatulence, so it doesn't really endear me to an establishment. Second of all, I think its presumptuous. It's a restaurant calling itself "gourmet". If you want to serve high end food you have to just do your best and let the customers decide if your food is Gourmet. Same thing with a place that sells booze and food. If your food is good and your beer is good then you'll get labeled as a gastropub. If not, your just a bar and grill, which is fine. But calling yourself gastropub doesn't make your food or your beer selection any better.

Input Overload

2011-04-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning to realize that besides food and beer, one of my greatest vices has become sensory input. More specifically, listening to podcasts, going on the internet and watching TV. When you are alone all day and tired of listening to your inner monologue, you need something to keep your brain busy. But I think in these times of instant access to everything, we can definitely over do it. A good example is when I'm watching something on TV and then pick up the laptop to see what other movies or shows some actor has been in. Now, not only am I taking in input from two sources, but my braining is thinking about a third source. If I'm walking the dog or doing the dishes, I've always got a podcast going on the ipod. From time to time I've been having trouble sleeping. This is nothing new for me, but I find that the voices and scenarios from TV and podcasts are creeping into my psyche on the edge of sleep and my brain won't shut down. I know its important to exercise the brain, but I'm learning that its equally important to let it rest. I came to this clarity of thought on a 6 mile hike, during which I didn't break out my ipod, I just let my brain wander where it would. I can tell you that having not had more than 2 hours sleep last night, there was a huge data dump going on, like a waking dream. I feel a little clearer now and hopefully, I'll sleep tonight.
Ask yourself when the last time you sat quietly alone with your thoughts.

A Low carb Alternative Food

2011-04-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Those little honeys are bacon wrapped chicken drummettes. Finally, the pig and the chicken have come together to form the perfect food. Next time I might take the chicken skin off and wrap a jalapeno in there. Lauri made broccoli in a futile attempt to try and counteract the bacon.

happy days

2011-04-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you had a really really good laugh? Like the kinda laugh that is uncontrollable! The laughing spell where you need to gather yourself but just can't cuz you keep thinking about the funny thing? When was the last time you laugh so hard you peed your pants, or spit out a drink or even had tears in your eyes?

I think we could all use one of those moments soon. :)

They finally made a monkey out of me!

2011-04-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Trailer

Click on the Link to Watch on You Tube.

I have to say, this looks pretty cool. But I'm not sure of I'm up for a movie that turns realistic looking apes into enemies. The state of the Gorilla and Chimpanzee species is pretty dire right now and having stupid ass people see them as dangerous is the last thing they need right now. Having said that, I'll probably still see the movie.

Facebook This!

2011-04-10T12:52:00.001-07:00

I watched 12 hours of Sons of Anarchy yesterday. It's on Netflix instant viewing now. It became so ingrained in my brain that I couldn't sleep. I had the phrase SAMCRO repeating over and over again. I had visions of Katey Segal smoking a joint and kidnapping Alison. So now I have to watch no more than 1 or 2 episodes a day. None today, too scary. Today, I'm goin to retreat back into middle-earth, where I have been pretty much living for the last three months.

ConAgra foods makes my favorite taco sauce and engages in price fixing. Matt Damon told me so. Its a little vexing to know that I could be getting cheaper taco sauce.

A Mystery!?

2011-04-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

You are faced with an unsolvable mystery. Your life hangs in the balance. Do you call on Batman or Sherlock Holmes for help. Several things to consider, Batman is also a Ninja but he only works at night. With Sherlock Holmes you also get the keen mind of Doctor Watson, however Holmes is a coke fiend and Watson is probably his dealer.

Oprah

2011-04-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Pete loathes Oprah Winfrey? It makes me giggle just thinking about all the little snickers and comments he makes when i watch her shows. Yes, i watch Oprah. Don't judge me! If you were home for four months and time no longer had meaning, then we can discuss it. I also feel like i'm somewhat justified in watching Oprah cuz its her last season. they don't do repeats of talk shows so i'm in the clear after her series is done. of course, there is her new network, OWN. Guess i'll still be watching some Oprah related stuff. sorry Pete!

Facebook, The Audience Isn't Listening Part 2

2011-04-03T14:36:00.001-07:00

By chance I had heard of a T-Shirt called Three Wolf Moon. Its a T-Shirt with three wolf heads on it howling at the moon. It became a sort of internet phenomenon when someone stumbled on it on Amazon and wrote a review of it, imbuing it with magical powers. There are now over 1200 reviews of the shirt on Amazon and some of them are really funny. Anyway, I thought it would be worth the $20 to send Randy the shirt, addressed to “Mad Dog Moe” It made me laugh. So I order the shirt and have it sent to Randy’s house. Now, this is another attempt by me to get a rise out of someone. (Namely Randy, in this case) Performance art if you will.
I eagerly check my Amazon account to check the delivery status of the shirt. The package was delivered yesterday and would be waiting for Randy on the doorstep when he got home from work. I relished in the response I might receive. I laughed just thinking about it. Yesterday came and went and I got no response. This morning, I confirmed with Tim that Randy had received and opened the package. Tim, at least , let me know that he thought the gag gift was “very funny”. Ok so, Randy is not the type to over emote for sure, but to say nothing...? I thought maybe the gift had confused or angered him in some way. So I took to Facebook and in a jokey kind of way explained the gift. Randy confirmed that it was “a very interesting shirt”. Here is the thing though, as I said before every single thing I post on Facebook is meant for an audience reaction even when I write directly on someone’s wall, I hope for a reaction from our mutual friends. I won’t go into the play by play, because you can check Facebook and see that my post got no reaction. I checked it all day waiting for someone to do some investigating on Three Wolf Moon and appreciate, via comment, my little piece of performance art. As of this writing, there has been absolutely no reactions. It’s stupid, I know, but I’m really disappointed by this. There are several factors that may be contributing to the lax response, the first is that I posted on a weekday morning, so by the time people got home from work, my post could have been buried under 50 other posts, depending on how many friends you have. I also posted it on Randy’s page and Randy is not very active on Facebook, and we all know, if you don’t post regularly, people tend to stop checking your page. There may be people who would feedback but haven’t seen it yet. But on Facebook, if you don’t get the reaction you want in 24 hours your post is buried under hundreds of other posts and you may as well forget it.

Facebook, The Audience Isn't Listening Part 1

2011-04-03T14:32:00.001-07:00

In February of 2005, Randy and I started a blog on Google’s Blogger service. The idea was that we would post our opinions on Movies, TV, Music, video games etc. and someone would eventually stumble across it and begin to pay us for our awesome writing skills and pop culture observations. What actually happened was that we ended up documenting a period in our lives, before we started working full time and were having a lot of boozy adventures, probably way too far into our adulthood. However, I did put in a lot of effort and wrote a lot of stuff that I’m pretty proud of, we even had an essay contest that had, at least, our group of friends talking about it.
Three major things have happened since 2005 that for all intents and purposes shut the blog down. The first is that I began working full time and a lot of the wasted days that were so interesting to write and read about came to an end. MySpace, Blogs and the internet in general were becoming more accessible than ever and I began to worry that if I wrote about work, someone would eventually see it.
The second, is that I got a cell phone. My job made me get one. I was like the last hold out on getting a cell phone and I wonder sometimes, if my job didn’t make me carry it, if I still wouldn’t have it. Anyway, I absolutely fell in love with texting. I could instantly send my thoughts and ideas out to a dozen people at a time. Really at that point, thats what the blog was all about. But with texting, people had to tune in. It was passive, they didn’t have to go searching for my latest post, it was sent to them and they eventually had to read it. Not only that, but because of the format, I had to be brief and did not have to spend time to flesh out a thought or even censor myself. My thoughts were laid bare in 100 character messages. In 2005 we had 474 post, the next year was a little over half that and then a little over half that the next year. 2007-2008 held pretty steady but by then we were at a quarter of our production of 2005. In 2009 production fell off by half again and in 2010 there were only 18 posts.
The third and most devastating thing to happen to the blog was Facebook. Status updates killed blogging for the casual blogger. Once everyone was on Facebook, I could post any random thought and it didn’t even have to be particularly interesting and I could get almost instant feedback from my friends, with hardly any effort. And what has become clear to me is that I crave that feedback. I don’t really write for myself, I’ve never really been a journal keeper, I write for an audience, I fancy myself a writer. Not in any real way, of course, but I feel like I have limited ability to entertain with the written word. I’m no good at telling stories orally, but give me a chance to revise and rewrite and I can spin a yarn from time to time. So, I’ll admit it, every single thing I post on Facebook is to elicit a response from those who read it. If I post something, and get no comments, I’m always disappointed. And I’m always puzzled when I see other people post something like “Off to take a nap” and they end up with 15 comments. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not down on Facebook, I like Facebook and I know that Facebook will allow you to blog, but I don’t think anyone digs that deep on my page to read a blog. Obviously there was nothing stopping me from continuing to post on my blog, its just that posting on Facebook was always so much easier and most of the time it provides almost instant gratification. A lot of times when I’m trying to compose a blog post, I get off on a rant and can’t find my way back to the point and just abandon the post altogether.
So that brings us to the present and explains why I gave up the pleasure of writing long winded, mostly embellished daily adventure stories. But something happened over the last few days that has made me want to go dark on Facebook for a while and try to get back to a more, to my mind, artful way of expressing myself on the blog. Here goes, talk about burying the lead...

New Design...Again.

2011-04-03T14:23:00.001-07:00

Hi All,
As you can see, I'm playing with the blog design again. I took down all of the pictures, just to simplify the look. I haven't changed any of the permissions so you are all still free to post. I'm going to try to post stuff on here rather than Facebook from now on. I've made that claim before, but who knows, maybe I'll actually do it this time.

my family

2011-03-28T10:22:00.000-07:00

my baby girl

2011-02-13T10:42:00.001-08:00

2011-01-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

ti·rade /ˈtīrād/ Noun: A long, angry speech of criticism or accusation.

here goes...

i work with people who don't give a shit, which i find incredibly annoying... because i do give a shit. i care about putting in my 8 hours each day. i care about doing a good job. i care about other peoples' feelings and always choose my words and actions carefully to avoid hurting them.

i wish that i could abandon all my work ethic and the consideration i give this damned place. i want to do the bare minimum while reaping all the benefits, too. i want to say anything to anyone and not care. i want to come in late, take long lunches, leave early and not think twice about it.

...but then i would be just another one of those people who takes and takes and feels so entitled all the time. i would rather just be hateful and blog about it occasionally.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T09:23:00.001-08:00

Hello friends! Yes, it's been a little while since my last post (understatement) but I'm bored at work on my lunch break so the least I could day is say hi. I saw a news report yesterday that said people who eat lunch at their desks are more likely to overeat. How so when your hands are on the keyboard? Yes, I have a huge plate of leftover spaghetti dinner in front of me.

Anyway, I had a wonderful Christmas spent with my husband and the in-laws. New Year's Eve left much to be desired but what else is new? :)

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2011!

From A Christmas Carol

2010-12-01T10:08:00.000-08:00

Scrooge's Nephew Lectures him on the virtues of Christmas

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,…Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round …as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore…though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"

ESL

2010-10-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

I know of a man who makes tons of money

He looks very strange and he is kind of funny,

He set up a store for selling some words

and his business was good, it took off like birds.

I am glad that this man is my friend,

we do business with each other, again and again.

I buy words from him, some short and some long,

Can you guess which words are making up this song?

I hope that his business doesn’t change course

Or else I will have to find a new source

Of words to use that I can bet on,

So I can keep branching out with these songs.

seriously?! Two weeks?!

2010-10-04T16:30:00.001-07:00

I had some time to kill at work today so i decided to scroll back through the old posts. I read a rant by Pete saying we never get cool, exciting weather. Funny how just in the past two weeks we've had 110 degree weather and now today its been raining all day....well drizzling anyways. Then i looked to see if i had written anything in 2007 about leaving my old job for this one. I did in fact. There were two. One was that i gave my notice and the other was that it was my last day. I thought it was interesting because i feel like i'm in the same position now that i was when it was my last day...i'm bored. I have two more weeks, give or take, until the "blessed event" and this week holds my last scheduled event to work. So now i'm going to be sitting at my desk, bored, waiting to go into labor. Its an odd feeling when your not needed but you still come to work. I do enjoy not getting 30 emails a day though. And i won't miss it when i'm on my landline, my cell phone is ringing and someone else is calling me on the walkie talkie. So that part is quite refreshing. i feel bad for those around me who have to work overtime cuz i'm not going to be here though. i'm really good at my job and i like it a lot. so its going to be kinda hard to be at home all day.....yes i know i will be busy but it will be a different kind of busy.

Two weeks people, two weeks! Where did the time go? Wasn't it just yesterday that Pete and i went over to the DeClerk house to tell Steve and Nina? And then later that night he called Tim and Tom? And from there it spread like wild fire! lol. And now the next phone calls you'll all start getting is that there's a baby. So surreal.

Now that i think back, i'm a little bummed that Pete and I didn't blog more about getting Barney and his cute pictures. And that we didn't post more on the pregnancy progress with ultrasound pictures...actually, i hate ultrasound pictures. They do not do the baby any justice on the cuteness factor. But anyways, you know what i mean. Because the fact that this blog can have our stories logged from 2005 to present, no matter how many times we actually posted something, its all there to read back and remenise. Facebook doesn't do that. its just a quick blurb about something and then you lose it.

So i think we should all take this opportunity to start blogging again. Let's think of it as a scrapbook of memories.

Sheila: Let's see some pics of the house and all the work you've done.
Lynlee: Beer Pong Tourney?
Pete: Barney videos?
Alex: CA trip pics?
Randy: Fantasy Football updates?

You guys get the point. :)

Arian Foster, fantasy stud

2010-09-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

Hey dudes. Who's got a good team in your league??

Love,

AJ

2010-08-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday PETE!!!!!!

To Clean or Not to Clean

2010-08-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

I'm going back and forth about whether or not i should hire a cleaning service. I'm also not sure if i want to hire someone that family and friends use or just get a company in to start my house off fresh again. I've called two companies for estimates and apparently the one factor that makes the price go higher is the fact that i have a dog. Poor Barney. He does make cleaning the house much more difficult. Perhaps that's why i feel the need to get outside help. I'm getting bigger and slower and cleaning every weekend just doesn't sound fun to me these days. i guess i'm not in the "nesting stage" quite yet. Has anyone used a cleaning company before? is it worth it? Any recommendations?

Saturday

2010-08-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Saturday, was a very nice day. The weather was nice and sunny. Pete and I spent almost all day hanging out in the backyard. We did yard work in fact! Trimmed some trees back, trimmed some bushes, cleaned the garage and worked on the sprinklers in both the back and front yard. I dare someone to tell us that we aren't incredible house renters! I enjoy renting a house. Cuz its a great learning experience. We know about having to clean windows and work on broken sprinkler heads. And if we mess up or can't fix it ourselves, then we have a back up....the landlord! Pete has knowledge on the HVAC and i can program the sprinkler system. Its very rewarding to do things yourself. And by the end of the day, your kinda beat and very dirty. Like i said, its very rewarding. So now that our backyard is in pristine condition, who want's to come over and bbq?!

A friend for Barney??

2010-07-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Pete and I keep going back and forth about getting another dog. A friend for Barney to play with and to get into trouble with while we are both at work. We both constantly check the Pasadena Humane Society website to see if there are any cute dogs. We wouldn't get a Pit Bull or a Chihuahua, even those are the most needed dogs to adopt, but more of a smaller dog like Barney's size. We'd want to get a dog that is at least 2 years old already cuz then we won't have to worry too much about all the puppy hijinks. The dog would have to be pretty mellow to be able to mesh with Barney's personality too. Then there's the whole baby factor to consider. Is it wise for us to throw in another living thing that needs taking care of? But then again, will Barney need a friend cuz we will be too busy taking care of the baby? All the "what if's"!!!

oohhh

2010-07-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

Hey Pete, nice change on the page. I think we needed a new background. I also think we need to start posting some stuff. yeah yeah i know, i'm all talk cuz i haven't contributed since.....well its been a while. Just curious, does anyone even check this blog anymore? If you do, add a comment. Just say, 'i do, once a week/month/randomly, etc". Maybe its time to give up and live only in Facebook land? *sigh*

2010-07-07T00:04:00.000-07:00

I don't fucking sleep anymore. I haven't fallen asleep before 2am for months. And if I do you can be sure that I wake up at 3am and can't fall asleep again until 5am.

Response to Jeff and Dave (Not because I'm angry or overly excited, only because I like to argue)

2010-04-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

My Argument is that what the framers had in mind with the First Amendment was to protect the expression of unpopular ideas and to protect political dissent.

My point is that there is nothing in animal cruelty videos to protect. It is a recording of crime being committed. I understand that it was a weak law that was being struck down, and that's fine we'll have to come up with a better law, but I don't think there is a First Amendment argument to be made here. Like I said, if someone were to depict realistic images of dogs fighting or or squirrels being crushed I wouldn't have a problem because there is no "act". In my mind the First Amendment protects the expression of an idea not an action. For instance, I respect someone's right to say in any medium or public forum "everyone named Pete should be killed" I don't respect their right to actually kill me and sell the videos.

I think of this way:
If someone rented a theatre and billed their act as crushing small animals onstage. They are protected. Everyone who bought a ticket to this event is protected. That's protection against prior restraint. However, as soon as the show begins and chip n' Dale get squished, the performer is no longer protected and can be arrested. In a video, the crime has already been committed so there is no prior restraint protection, the video is simply evidence of a crime being committed in which the person holding the camera is complicit. And whether someone buys the video or not a crime has occurred.

The First Amendment

2010-04-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

The First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Supreme court crushes law against animal cruelty videos and photos

Which one of the protections of the First Amendment covers Dog Fighting? Which one covers crushing small animals to death?

Free Speech you say? What then, do these activities say? If they "say" something, could the something not be said and not shown?

If a person where to release a book, video, podcast what have you extolling the virtues of watching two dogs maul each other to death I would not dream of trying to suppress such a publication. Likewise, I would not endeavor to suppress anyone from expressing the opinion that crushing small animals to death is a legitimate form of sexual arousal. It is the act of doing these things that is reprehensible and, in fact, criminal. We have existing laws against animal cruelty just as we have criminal laws against murder. Selling a video of someone being murdered is illegal, is it not? Why then should selling a video of someone committing an act of animal cruelty not be considered a criminal act?

I am not a vegetarian and I understand the concept of nature "red in tooth and claw" but this is willfully causing prolonged pain and suffering and exploiting that suffering for money. I don't see how this could have been the intention of the framers.

Enlighten me.

Upon Watching The Empire Strikes Back...

2010-04-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

"Lauri, what do you take away most from Star Wars, whats your favorite part?"
"Yoda"
"Like what? His philosophy?"
"I like his puppet... I also like the Ewoks cuz they're, like, fuzzy little bears"
"sigh"

The Gift of Gab...

2010-04-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

It's a good thing for me that we don't live in ancient Greece. If we lived in the time of Homer, I would be shit out of luck. I can't relate a decent story verbally to save my life. Sometimes, I'll try to tell a story about a funny thing that happened to me, and I'll realize half way through that I have totally lost your interest or that frankly the story wasn't great to begin with and I try to wrap it up quickly which ruins it. I think however, that I can't spin a decent yarn in written form.. I think it must be destiny that I was born into an age when blogging is possible. Writing and re-writing, that's my style. Yes, I do make up certain facts for dramatic effect, but admit it, so do you when you are telling your stories. My strength, I like to think, in the social situation is listening. I love to here a good story retold and I respect the skill it takes to do it. Please don't take me for being aloof when we are sitting there have a beer and I can't think of anything good to say, it's just that...well, I can't think of anything good to say. But I'll gladly listen to, and be genuinely interested in anything you might want to tell a story about.

Seeking Serious Advice

2010-03-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

So when we first moved into the house, a lady came knocking at our door at 9pm one Tuesday night with her hand waving furiously. My first impression was that she was a new neighbor come to welcome us to the neighborhood...not so much as it turns out. When I opened the door she held up her hands with seven fingers. After several attempts in broken English I was informed that she had seven children. I further came to understand that she was seeking permission to take the recyclables from the bin on the curb. To this I said, "fine go ahead." and began to close the door. As I closed the door she said, "okay you remember me when I come back" Very quickly I realized she had taken my affirmative to be my acceptance of a contract between the two of us by which she would rummage through my garbage at my curbside every Tuesday night. I immediately regretted every aspect of the interaction.

In the weeks that followed we realized that with a three bin system (Trash, recycle, Yard Waste) we really weren't generating enough trash to necessitate putting the recycle bin on the curb every week. (Well, that and the fact that we routinely forgot to put the trash out altogether) After a while I had nearly forgotten about the wayward (and overly reproductive) dumpster diver.

However...

Last week I was heading out to work at about 6:30 in the AM, and who do I see not only going through the recycle bin but chatting up the garbage men...you guessed it. Lets forget that I am notoriously surly at this time of day anyway, but something about having turned the front of my house into the garbage buffet REALLY got under my skin. So as I walked to my car I said, in a not overly unkind tone of voice, "Please don't through my garbage anymore". Her response was that I had given her permission. I said, "Well, please don't do it anymore." She fell back on what must be her standard mode of pleading and held up her seven fingers, and again informed me that she had seven children who all went to the school in front of my house (as if that was some sort of endearment to me). As I got in my car I again repeated, "don't go through my garbage anymore." My rear views revealed her moving quickly toward my car.. She was at my side window again holding up her seven fingers. I gesticulated wildy for her to get away from my car. She put her palms together and bowed to me. Had we reached an understanding or had she just sworn a blood oath to her god against all things Pete? She moved away from the car and went back out to the parking. As I drove by she gave me the creepiest smile I've ever seen. I was not at all happy about how the exchange had gone. Surely I could have conducted myself better and turned on the charm and calmly informed her that I was uncomfortable with her going through my cast offs, numerous though her offspring may be. Still, perhaps I had made my wishes clear and this would be the last I would see of her?

At this point your asking, what's the big deal? Let her go through your garbage and get on with your life. To you I say..."Yeah, but...." Look, there are several issues at play here that bother me about the situation, taken individually you will think me a hard hearted bastard and dismiss me, but perhaps taken together you can see my side?

First, with a stranger going through your trash you now have to be careful of what you put in the trash. Identity theft is a real thing and I have a lot to lose.

Second, someone who knocks on your door at 9pm asking to root through your trash clearly has boundary issues.

Third, had I opened the door to making my new neighborhood a haven for trash diggers? Not a very nice legacy to be sure.

Fourth, basic human nature says give a person an inch and they will take a mile. What was to stop her from deciding that if my aluminum cans were up for grabs, what about these rusty old aluminum rain gutters. And what about the bottles and cans that I had surely left in the back yard, why not hop the fence just to take a peak, after all she has seven mouths to feed.

Fifth, rubbish hauling contracts are in my purview at the job so I know that trash haulers use revenue from recyclables to offset the cost of operations, if all of sudden there would no recyclables to collect, trash hauling costs could conceivably go up. I can't have that on my head. I know that's more of big picture concern and, admittedly, it was distrust of strangers in general that led me to call an end to the smorgasbord of rubbish.

On Saturday there was a home invasion robbery, that ended with my neighbor a few doors down chasing the would be burglar into the nearby school and the Sheriffs having my block on lock down for a few hours until the police dogs found the suspect in the dumpster. Scavengers, burglars, oh my! You can see how paranoia might be setting in.

Then...

Tonight a knock came at my door at about 8:30pm. Guess who? She was back now with 3 of the 7 in tow. Presumably for the purpose of softening my hard heart into granting access to the remains of the past weekends shenanigans. I hadn't even brought out my bins yet. I did NOT open the door this time. When I saw it was her through the side window, again waving furiously with that, "there is really something wrong with me" smile. I simply looked in the eye and said "Go Away". She moaned a pleading "Nooooooo" as I secured the chain and locked the deadbolt. She left. She is about a 5 foot tall mid fifties Asian woman and at this point I have to admit, I'm nervous.

I know I've made light of some aspects of the situation for the purpose of holding your attention but in all seriousness I find the whole situation worrisome. And I also realize the person I am talking about is REAL person who clearly has REAL problems. But none of those problems are immediately mine or my neighbors. Recyclables can be accessed in any manner of ways (see previous posts) that don't involve knocking on my door or hanging around my house.

I don't worry about my own safety but for those under my care, especially the friendly dog who puts anything in his mouth including any manner of poison handed him by vengeful trash digger while I'm off making money in a more conventional manner than knocking on stranger's doors begging for access to trash. I know I'm probably being overly worrisome...but that's just me.
Any advice from the group on how I can solve the situation or at least some thoughts to put my mind at ease?

Jumping off a tall Building while staring in a mirror and having cake that you can also eat

2010-03-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

"No matter what we fear, we MUST fear the moment of truth"
That's the opening of the Gang Starr track "Moment of Truth" that legitimizes that whole cut and it has relevance here I think.

Ahhhh....(that's a sigh of relief) It's the tapping sound of keys being punched that reminds me that it has been too long since I've done this.

Life has certainly changed since we started this blog in 2005. We've gone from "Life Outside the Rat Race" to...hell I don't even know what to call it. In fact, I won't attempt to analyze the ups and downs of trying to make a comfortable life in the free market society. I will share something I've learned, having a little loose change in the your pocket can really alleviate some stress, and if the price is getting up every morning and putting in your eight, as long as you're not hating your job, then its well worth it. I've been wanting, for a long time to acknowledge how much life has changed in the few years since we started this and my fear has been that I wouldn't be able to entertain with words with much less of my time being spent Outside the Rat Race. But what I've come to realize is that it wasn't what we did back in '05 that was all that fun, it was the flourish of words we put on it, that made everyday an adventure. I also recall that every experience was approached with the intention of putting it into words, in doing so you tend to look for the fascinating in the mundane. I think, if we want to keep this thing going we, (or just me maybe) have to try to do that again, despite how different things are now.

Having said all that, I'm still not sure what direction to go with this blog. It might take sometime to get the grove back. I realize now that with Facebook here, this thing will have a much wider audience and I have to decide whether or not to be careful with words and what stories to tell. But...I suppose you all know me well enough, so if I decide to fret, hem and haw, or openly rant you just have to remember, that right now...life in general is good and the various humours of the passionate soul are all part of life. I will, however, put a word of warning in for my younger readers if you are out there...
*All stunts physical and psychological are performed by a professional. Don't try anything read here at home.

THIS IS BORING!!!

2010-02-12T23:32:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone from Alaska I think we should get back to writing on the blog about what we are doing right now and stop putting our 2 cents in on facebook. Don't get me wrong I love facebook but rememeber when this blog was our way of telling a story about what we are thinking. I'm so bored and I'm wishing I was famous I could catch a plane and head down south. I should be reading for my history class but I don't feel like I'm in the mood to hear about WWII and Alaska's role in it. I'm half watching the Olympic Opening Cermony and I'm wondering...who comes up with this crap?! Really the Native dances were fine I've experienced them up here before. There was horrible side dancers wearing lights like they just bought them at Target. But what was with that trapeze on the fake mountain was that any good because I thought it was a reject number from Cirque de soleil. Whoa I just thought KD Lang was Micheal Buble...my bad. Now a opera song?! Nelly Furtado and Bryan Adams was a horrible pairing and their song wasn't that great. Then the talking for a hour about how Canada is so great we get it you got the Olympics and we didn't. I just hope the U.S. team can forget about this show and bring in a new gold rush into the U.S. (that means win a lot of gold). BTW it was sad that Georgia Republic Luger died on a practice run!! On an unsafe track...I think I would say I'll pass on this run. Anyway this ceremony is boring and I feel like I can't leave or change the channel cuz something cool might happen and I'll miss it.Wait a minute the lighting was messed up that one persons thing didn't raise. I know what to do BLAME CANADA!!! HAhahahaha. A lot of these big expensive shows at sporting events are not great anymore The Who was horrible at the Super Bowl too. I should quit whing but really I wish I could do these shows they would be the shit. Anyways hopefully this rant can get more people to write on the blog maybe Randy can start up his haikus again. One more thing I'm trying to come up with a title for my high school drama soon to be tv show cuz "Hamilton Hell" wasn't working I was thinking "Crossroads of Our Lives" or "Lives At The Crossroads". I know they are both kinda the same but they aren't also. Well the ceremony is over and I'm over too. Talk to all of y'all later.

The Rolling Underbelly

2010-01-13T09:35:00.000-08:00

Last night on the drive from my house to Blockbuster Video I saw a homeless guy with 2 dogs. That was the second time I witnessed that unhappy sight in a few days. There was some other homeless guy camped out by the wash who also had 2 dogs. And they are both different from the homeless guy with 2 dogs you see in Sierra Madre and East Pasadena.
I also saw 2 trucks (both personal vehicles) loaded down with cardboard headed to the recycling center by Ralph's /Ichima. This was at like 9:30 at night so they weren't there to drop off their recycling, they were there to steal what they could out of the recycling center. How they planned to split up the loot I can only imagine. When I got home I brought out the trash barrels, it only took 15 minutes before someone was rooting around in my own recycle bin. (A veritable treasure trove after having Alex for a week, but don't get used to it). At work, we can't put on enough security to keep the collectors out of our recycling cans. I recently had to reprimand an employee on the dangers of crawling into a trash compactor, on duty or otherwise There is a seedy underside to the Crown City, The Rose City, and the poor economic conditions are only making worse. I'm wary of a city where the middle class is becoming scarce and times are only getting more desperate.

2009-12-12T22:04:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday night and I am friggin' bored. There is nothing on TV and I don't feel like putting a DVD on. I keep opening up Facebook to see if there is anyone (Alex) to chat with, but there never is. I could check my Fantasy Football line-up for the 3rd time today, but I don't think anything has changed on a Saturday. My poor dog is even more bored than I am. He takes little naps and then wakes up like a huge ball of energy. I feel bad. I would walk him, but we keep getting these intense bouts of rain. I walked him this morning but this dog needs a lot of exercise I guess.
I hate Charter Cable. This is the worst cable I've seen in years and my super high speed internet is crap. How have we allowed these mini-monopolies that the cable companies have over certain regions. I know, I know, sattelite. I'm getting there, maybe after the holidays.

"On the east side, thats where I met my Ramona" remember Sublime? do you remember the album 40oz. to Freedom and how many great songs where on that album? Do you also remember how KROQ repeated played that stupid date rape song over and over again? I've often wondered how the worst song on such a great album got so much airtime.

I just discovered that I have the Independent Film channel, Gangs of New York is on. Daniel Day Lewis is the only good thing about that movie. I always thought that he would have made a great Aragorn.

One Bad Apple

2009-12-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

So I'm feeling better now. In fact, I'm feeling great. Being sick helped jump start some much needed weight loss that I've been trying to keep up. I've been on the wagon since right after thanksgiving and haven't had any fast food since then either. I have to get some more exercise though. I've never been able to maintain weight loss doing just one or the other, its always had to be both eating like a rabbit and exercising like crazy. Anyway, I'm just glad that I'm not in and out of doctor's offices anymore. Those guys are dicks who don't know what they are doing. Maybe if they spent more than 5 minutes in your presence they might come up with something useful, but as it stands your just a ball of symptoms to them and whether they can make you feel better or not, they seem to get paid either way.

So for lunch, I'm eating an apple of unacceptable quality. I got it from Ralph's. So there you go Ralph's you sell shit apples and now the whole world knows it. It's a granny smith. It tastes as though someone took all the meat out, put in in a blender and then stuffed it back into the peel. I had a granny smith from Gelson's the other day and it was exquisite. I was everything a granny smith apple should be. It was crisp and tart. It was delicious. Not like this mealy shit apple I'm choking down right now. What's wrong with you Ralph's? Don't you have any pride? Don't get me started on the Ralph's brand banana peppers I bought before the holidays. That's right, the ones that gave me the shits. If you are going to put your name on something, hadn't better be at least edible? The worst part is that I've three more of these crappy apples at home, just waiting to disappoint me. I can see them there now, just laughing. Now that they know I know they don't have to hide their glee at making me suffer. When you are that bad of an apple, there is no sense in hiding how bad you are behind your shiny green peel. When I get home, I'll find they have morphed into their true forms; rotten and ugly twisted into grotesque smiles. The second worst part is that now lunch is over. My hunger has not been sated and I didn't even have the pleasure of having had at least a little flavor. The third worst part is that my triglycerides are high so eating fruit is not really a good option for me...too much sugar. The fourth worst part, is that my lunch break just consisted of sitting at my desk eating a shitty apple and writing a blog. Not that I need a lunch break from staring at my computer. There is a packet of tuna in my office fridge and a plastic fork in my drawer. I could eat that tuna. Although, eating the tuna would probably mean consuming more calories than I'm likely to burn today. I think I'll leave the tuna alone.
Alex comes out on the 27th. I'm looking forward to the re-unification of the tri-fecta. It's going to be a veritable orgy of bad food, bad movies, laziness and shit talking. It's hard to contain my excitement.

Randy is a Dumbass (Tim and Pete's 10 reasons why) Part 1

2009-11-28T18:31:00.000-08:00

1. He is too lazy to comb his own hair.
2. He thinks his bed head hair is a hair style.
3. His bedroom looks like it's been ransacked by the police.
4. He is excited that the McRib is back!
5. He thinks G.I. Joe is the best movie since Transformers 2

BTW Randy was present when we came up with this.

The Argument

2009-11-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a little exchange that I found kinda funny. it illustrates how much Randy likes to argue. This isn't one of Randy's fantasy adventure stories, sorry. These quotes may have happened, not quite all at once I've taken a little license there, but the spirit of the argument is the maintained.

Randy: "Modern Warfare 2 is the best game ever. I don't like Halo, I only like games where I can see my character."
Pete: "you can't see yourself on Modern Warfare 2 its a first person shooter."
Randy: "what are you TALKING about...I can see my gun."
Pete: "You can see your gun on Halo"
Randy: "I don't play Halo so I wouldn't know"

I'll leave it there. You should be able to find this funny without being a gamer, but it might help. I wasn't arguing that HALO was better than MW2 because it's not, I was just trying to say that his logic for not liking HALO was shoddy.

Rumble in the Jungle's 35th anniversary

2009-11-01T04:39:00.000-08:00

Watching some classic ESPN tonight I had recorded via DVR (thank you, God!) I had an interesting realization: my dad, who was an immense fan of Muhammad Ali aka "The Greatest," was about 24 years old when the Rumble in the Jungle between Ali and George Foreman happened in 1974. Here was a man (Ali) who talked huge and fought ever-larger. The Congolese in Zaire ADORED Ali, and during the fight they were vocal about each strike, however perceptible, to Foreman's dome. They wanted Ali to kill George Foreman. How much of this affected my Dad is certainly unknown, though I can guess: if this American man could somehow win the affections of a whole nation against another equally talented American man in a contest of strength, it deserved thought and perhaps even some great consideration.
For me at least, I remember three things about this fight the very first time I saw it: George Foreman at one time in his life looked Pretty Mean! The image of him hawking his wares belied the fact that he at one time really was a beast. Though his grills are no slouches, he in his prime was machine-like. I'll never forget how Ali used that fact to his advantage: the way Ali made it seem like he was losing and then finally strike his adversary like uncoiled cobras was pure mastery. But the thing that really makes me think is this question: once the cultural icons of our youth have passed on into selling stuff on infomercials and commercials, does that mean that we too have passed into old age? If it matters at all to ask the question, have we then lost it, what does it mean?
I wonder what my dad thought of when he saw Ali send Foreman to the canvas. That man who had fought only two rounds for most of his fights because he had knocked out the opposition so quickly. Though Foreman was mean and strong, the most important factor was that Ali was quick, quicker to deflect all blows to his head by shrugging off Foreman's powerful punches, thereby letting the champ tire himself out.

ROPE A DOPE!

I don't quite know where I was going with this but that I started writing a couple of weeks ago after watching the replay of the fight. I conclude that

1) Sports TV has come way too far and how much farther can it go? I wonder
2) Muhammad Ali is one of the closest things to Jesus we have on the planet.
3) George Foreman grills aint nothin to Fuck With.

The Zombie Catfish...a TRUE story for Halloween

2009-10-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

The last thing we had to do before being officially moved out of the apartment was to move our aquarium. Moving an aquarium is never a pleasant task. We have a 29 gallon tank, and to move it we have to empty it down to about an inch of water with the fish still in it. Its still weighs about 100 pounds at that point, but its manageable. There's one thing that makes moving the aquarium a little bit more tricky than normal. I have this elusive little catfish that is now on his third aquarium. He outlives everyone. The problem with this guy is that he basically spends all day hiding in a log and only comes out at night or in the early morning. I go for months without seeing him. But I assume that if he died he would finally float to the surface so I don't really worry about him. So when I go to empty the tank, I pull his log out very slowly, jostle it a bit in the hopes that he'll swim out. He doesn't. I pull the log a little farther out and still nothing. there is no flapping or flopping in the part of the log that's out of the water. I figure he must have swam for cover and I just missed it, so I take the whole log out and look into all the cracks and crevices and listen for any signs of struggle and nothing. So I put the now air exposed log in the sink and do a visual inspection for the catfish. He's nowhere to be seen. I have seen him move quite a bit of aquarium rock so I start sifting the rocks with my hand to make sure he's still among the living. Believe me when I say, I sifted every inch of that aquarium and there was no fish to be found below the surface. I do a cursory search of the floor around the aquarium to make sure he hasn't pulled a Nemo and is heading for the nearest drain. Still nothing. At this point I'm resigned to the fact that Lauri's son of a bitch cannibal Angel fish devoured my 10 year old catfish like every other fish we try to put in there. Usually we find the skeleton, but Lauri had just changed the filter so I figured the bones got sucked in. Or that son of a bitch couldn't help himself and ate the bones too.
When Lauri showed up to help me, I gave her both the news and a strong admonition about that god damn cannibal fish killing the old wise man of the aquarium. Lauri however refused to believe that the cat fish could just disappear with out any physical evidence being left behind. She needed to see the body. So she went to the log, now in the sink and practically dry and inspected the nooks and crannies just like I had. We even ran it under the tap to try and flush him out on the off chance we couldn't see him. No luck. Lauri resigned herself...sort of.
Anyway, we took our time after that, taking apart all the equipment, gathering up random stuff from around the apartment and loading the aquarium accessories into the back of my truck. We drove to the house got everything set up. no sign of said catfish. End of story.

Until...

Lauri comes running into the bedroom this morning as I'm getting ready for work and says, "your catfish is alive and he's out eating" I couldn't believe it but there he was.
There is only one explanation for this. I sifted through every pebble of that aquarium and that log was out of the water for at least 45 minutes.
I once knew a fish that survived a double flushing, an impaling by a kebab skewer, and 3 months under the kitchen sink with no food in a tupperware bowl. The same fish went on to decimate my aquarium when I brought him home from Tim's.
But I cannot conceive of my catfish or any other fish surviving out of water for that long.
Here is the only explanation I can think of. My fish was raised from the dead in some voodoo ritual and is in fact undead. A Zombie. A Zombie Fish.

Randy Strikes Again

2009-10-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Randy tried to piss in my eye tonight because I suggested that he take nap AT work rather than having to take nap AFTER work. We were sitting in my backyard and he was kibbitzing about not being able to take a nap before going out on Saturday and I said "just take a nap at work." He said, "How would you like it if I pissed in your eye right now?" And I was like "What? Just cuz I said you should take a nap at work?"
"That's it!", he says, and the dude stands up on his chair, unzips his fly and start to whip it out, I start to say, "I don't know what impression I gave you but I'm not gonna suck tha..." but before I could finish the dude start urinating! Fortunately, I have the reflexes of a cat and got out of the way before the stream caught me in the face. I don't what about sleeping at work got Randy so riled up but I'll never suggest that again.
He calmed down later and I made him clean the piss off my/his table.

Star Wars used to be good

2009-10-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

Have I ever told you guys that I'm a bit of a Star Wars fan? Well I am. So I'm home on a Friday night and it's the premier of the new season of the Clone Wars series on Cartoon Network. Having little better to do, I record and watch it. I've seen snippets before, and I promise I ALWAYS try to go in with a fresh perspective. But there are just so many problems with the whole concept of the only new Star Wars stuff focusing on the Clone Wars. Here are but a few: The "good guys" in the Clone Wars turn out to be the bad guys in, lets call it, Classic Star Wars. Clone Warriors become Storm Troopers, Anakin becomes Vader, Republic officers and pilots become Imperial officers and pilots. They even wear uniforms that look like Imperial uniforms.So, how are any of these characters sympathetic? Why isn't there one character that questions where the Republic is going? What is the goal of the "droid army" or the "Trade Federation" its never made clear except for the fact that they keep trying to take over planets? None of the Jedi's seem to be able to discern that there is something wrong with Palpatine. I know Lucas thinks he took care of that with that 30 second conversation between Mace Windu and Yoda in the Attack of the Clones (God what a stupid title) movie, but really? All the Jedi's in the galaxy and no one can tell Palpatine is a bad guy? They call the bad guys "separtists" isn't that kinda like "rebel"? Weren't we rooting for the Rebels? In 30 years the mythology completely changed philosophy, once it was admirable to rebel against a corrupt system of government, now its admirable to defend it. And worst yet all the old leaders from the classics have become complicit, Yoda, obi wan kenobi are made to carry out the machinations of the emporer. Weak. Super Weak.
The biggest point of contention for me is that there are so many more interesting stories to be told when it comes to Star Wars. Like ummm, the Rebellion. Presumably the Rebellion was goin on for some time before Luke came on the scene, why not show some of those stories? I know these ones are supposed to be for kids, but Classic Star Wars was good when I was a kid and its good now. It would be cool if the current custodians of the Star Wars mythos had the longevity of saga in mind.

I got a root canal. and it was okay

2009-09-23T03:15:00.000-07:00

I am writing this at 3:15am because I can't sleep. I am writing this on my new laptop. The "H" key comes loose from time to time but it snaps back in. I ordered it online and don't want to go to the trouble of sending it back because of the "H" key. The sound card on this laptop must be amazing because I'm listening to The Postal Service on iTunes and they've never sounded so good. I have my Bose headphones on and I would swear that I'm listening to ambient sound. Amazing how even so so music can sound really good when it sounds really good. I had a root canal finished on monday but my gums are all swollen again. I'm going to call the dentist tomorrow and if there was some mistake made I'm going to be pissed off. This is my second root canal now and it seemed slap hazard compared to the last one. Those of you who know me, know that I hold dentistry in particularly low regard. Aside from the fact that it makes me panic in ways that, say, a bear encounter wouldn't; you have to understand that the science of dentistry has not changed much since the old west (have I discussed this in this venue before?) The only treatment for a bad tooth is still to drill the shit out of it and fill it with poisonous metals. The only thing that has improved is the anesthetic. Which, by the way, the dentist I went to didn't use on the second part of the root canal. It didn't hurt though. I did take exception to the fact that Judge Judy was on in the "operating room". Then there was the part of the procedure where the dentist called for "flame" and the dental assistant fired up a portable Bunsen burner and the dentist heated some poking tool and applied it to my tooth. I definitely didn't remember that part from the last root canal.
I worked until 10:30pm tonight and am due back at 8am. I'm not really worried though. At least it means I'll be outta there by 5.
Today is officially Randy's birthday, we are going bowling tonight. That should be fun.
I've been re-reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. It's about how the author decides to hike the Appalachian Trail. After reading the first few chapters again I tried to convince Randy to quit his job and hike the AT with me but he said "no" because he "doesn't enjoy physical excersion." I can't argue with that, just tonight I asked him to go online and he said no because the laptop was in his bedroom and he was in the living room. I called him a "lazy fuck shit" He didn't seem to like that much.
Now I'm listening to INXS Don't Change. Its one of only a handful of songs I like from the 80's. Here's a listing of the rest:
Melt with You by Modern English
99 Red Balloons by Nena (I like the English version)
Time After Time by Cindy Lauper
Ordinary World by Duran Duran
Everyone Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears

pretty much the rest of that decade can go and fuck itself.

Today's Quote

2009-09-22T21:13:00.001-07:00

It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.
- Aeschylus

En Pace Resquiescat

2009-09-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

I have never seen Road House. And I rate Dirty Dancing and Ghost among the worst movies I've ever seen. But God Damnit if Swayze wasn't one of the best movie villains of all time. I LOVE Point Break. Rest in Peace Patrick.

Quote for today

2009-09-17T19:23:00.001-07:00

The mind determines what is possible. The soul surpasses it.
-Pilar Coolinta

So True...

2009-09-15T18:48:00.001-07:00

Television is more interesting than people. If it were not, we would have people standing in the corners of our rooms.
- Alan Corenk

Just a quickie

2009-09-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

Just a quick thought here. There's been alot of "tech" news about the new Beatles Rock Band game coming out along with remastered CD's. *Ahem* CD's? I don't know who in the Beatles camp is resisting going digital, but they are making a huge mistake. I wouldn't say that CD's are a dead technology, but I would definitely say Dying. It's like when I held out way to long to start buying CD's and was sticking with tape. I had to re-buy everything on CD. Of course, now I'm re-buying a lot of stuff digitally. But there are two things that are silly about not going digital, the first is that if you buy a CD it can be easily converted to a digital file so there isn't any real protection. and two, because you can rip a CD, its easy to get Beatles music illegally. So why not give iTunes or whoever the right to sell the music and give fans the chance to pay for it. Simultaneously giving the next generation a chance to get the music, the way they get music now.
I'm just sayin'.

Gibbs Lake Trail

2009-09-06T11:59:00.000-07:00

Here's what the guide book said:

Directions: From Lee Vining, drive about one mile south on US 395, then turn west on Forest Service road 1N16 (look for the sign indicating Upper Horse Meadow.) Drive approximately 3 miles to the trail head at the end of the road.

Trail notes: The 2.7 mile hike from Upper Horse Meadow to Gibbs Lake is one of the truly great day hikes in California. Since the trailhead is not located at a lake or other attractive destination, nobody get there by accident. It starts at upper horse meadow, elevation 8000 feet, and climbs up Gibbs Canyon to Gibbs Lake, 9,530 feet. That figures to a 1,500 climb, and except for a half mile of switchbacks at the beginning of the trail, most of the route is a steady grade along Gibbs Creek. It is a pretty spot, backed by bare granite, fronted by conifers, the trail ends at Gibbs Lake, meaning you will not be competing with backpapckers arriving from other trails for trail space or a picnic site.

Here's what the guide book should have said:

Directions: From Lee Vining, drive about one mile south on US 395, then turn west on Forest Service road 1N16. The road is completely unsigned and is, by the way, a dirt road. drive past the squatters in broken down RV's and hope you're going the right way because the actual sign for the road doesn't appear until you are a mile in. Also the sign is faded and almost unreadable. Go ahead and add a mile to the hiking distance, because unless you have a four-wheel drive you're not going to be able to get to the end of the road.

Trail Notes: The 2.7 mile hike from Upper Horse Meadow to Gibbs lake is one of the worst hikes in the Sierras. Since the trailhead is not located at a lake or other attractive destination, good luck finding it. It starts at upper horse meadow, elevation 8000 feet, and climbs up Gibbs Canyon to Gobbs Lake, 9,530 feet. The trailhead has no sign so, again, cross your fingers and hope you're going the right way. The 1,500 elevation gain is a straight uphill slog up the side of a mountain. The trail never switchbacks, it is a straight uphill climb that will have you winded in about 5 minutes. After the first half mile the incline decreases from 85 degrees to 70 degrees. But don't worry the incline jumps back up to 85 degrees again after about 10 minutes of walking. Gibbs creek can be heard as a distant trickle somewhere in the distance. for the duration of the trail you won't be able to see 10 feet in front or behind you because of the severity of the incline. Gibbs lake is an average lake by Sierra Nevada standards so unless you absolutely have to see it. Stay the hell away from this trail!

Fantasy Sports 2009

2009-09-02T04:12:00.000-07:00

To start off, Randy thank you for inviting me to your fantasy league. I am sorry not to have joined it only because a bunch of you cool ratracers are a part of it. This fact I have guessed from the ensuing fantasy trashtalkin I witnessed on FB earlier tonight.
However, I am actually glad not to have joined. Last year I suffered from what I now term "fantasy burnout." I had three NFL teams, two NBA, an MLB and an NHL. Quite a few seasons had major coincidence with one another: The end of football with the beginnings of basketball and hockey was fun!
I wish you guys well in your friendly league. I am a part of another, 12-team, money league called "Masturb8ting Elephant" named for in honor of Joe Bima's team. George Miranda is the commish and damned if I do say so I think he does a bolly good job. I've talked my fair share of shit, I know I know. But we've been doing that league for about three or four years now.
The gist of this is that my new mantra for the next year of my life is to keep it as simple as possible. Nothing extra. By the way here's how my team looks this year:

QB A. Rodgers; RBs L. Tomlinson, Felix Jones, L. McCoy and L. Washington; WRs Dwayne Bowe, Randy Moss, Desean Jackson, Torry Holt, Percy Harvin and Earl Bennett; TE Greg Olsen.

K and DEF are negligible to me really. Of my main players I think Bennett might be the only throwaway. I like my team because I also have three kick/punt returners in Jones, Jackson and Washington. Excitement.

Two Things and then another thing

2009-08-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

I got two things to say and neither is of any particular import but they need to be said. First, Fuck Ashton Kutcher. I know most people were like Fuck Ashton Kutcher a long time ago, but I'm just now starting to see the impact of the damage he's caused to society. See I have this really perfect John Deere trucker hat that fits my head perfectly and is perfect for hiking because it breathes. And this ain't the John Deere trucker hat you can get at Target, this is the real deal, from the Implement Store where you go to buy hundred thousand dollar combines and shit. But because that peice of shit wore a goddamn John Deere hat for the year when Punk'd was on TV, everytime I wear that thing I feel like people are going to think that I'm some kind of 10 years to late Ashton Kutcher wannabe. So yeah, Fuck that guy.
Second, I just saw that movie "I love you, Man" It was a good movie, but it's the second movie that makes a big deal out of the band Rush. The first one was "Fanboys", also a good movie, also puts way too much emphasis on Rush. I don't get it, I hate Rush. Where is all this support for Rush coming from all of a sudden? Are thier songs easy to liscense for movies or what? Is there anyone out there that likes Rush? Am I missing something? That guy sings like his balls are in a vice and the music...it just has no soul. Maybe its me, but I'm just not hearing it.

On another note, I'm heading for Yosemite tomorrow and I'm super excited about that. Everytime I go there I take a big risk of not coming back. John Muir lived up there for months at a time, living on tea and biscuits. I got a backpack full of cookies and some chai tea, I might just wander down some trail and just keep going.

Getting After It

2009-08-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

So this week has been pretty annoying for me and I know why. The fact that since Tuesday I have been working from 1PM-10PM which sucks for lack of a better term. I basically can't do anything when I get home because people are tired and are ready for bed. I would usually be as well but anyway. Last night a friend texted me a couple times saying he was bored. I felt for the guy. I think I might have convinced him to go out with the promise I would meet him after work.

So 10PM rolled around and I was out I could not wait to wash away my work woes with the elixir of mass produced Light beer. Unfortunately the 10 was a nightmare. There was some accident over by Rosemead that was making everybody of course stop and look. I met up with a friend at Domenico's finally around 11 and man did I need a drink something fierce. "Barkeep something Domestic, Light and Cold over here." He obliged and we proceeded to drink. I drank. I had probably 3 maybe 4 of those Domenico's glasses of beer. I was feeling good and was like let's do something else I didn't have to work till 1 the next day. By this time another friend had joined us and we decided to hit The Station to continue our consumption of beverage.

On the way back to my place I almost had a heart attack as I was crusing down Huntington without a care in the world. I saw flashing lights and people waving flags. I thought oh shit it is a sobriety checkpoint or something. I am so fucked. Luckily enough for me Big Baby Jesus was smiling down on me and it was just some roadwork or something. Crisis averted.

So we met back at our place. Everyone got in my car and we got to The Station in one piece. The Station was crazy busy but we managed to find a spot near the bar and ordered up some Coor's Light. Well after shooting the shit and drinking at least 3 or 4 Coor's Lights. We decided it was time to head home. Usually this would be where the night would end. Not so this night.

Once home we started drinking there. We got out the beer and started standing around the kitchen drinking more Coor's Light. We called Suzy my girlfriend and sang 'Happy Birthday' to her. It was her birthday yesterday, she was as expected trashed. Anyway we started talking about the old times like Casa De Moe and me passing out early most of the time. Everybody was having a good time. We talked about going out to UCR to visit Jenny and going to frat parties. I think it was about that time we ran out of beer unfortunately. And based on previous experiences after 2AM Pasadena and surrounding areas are dry. BTW it was now close to 3AM. No alcohol purchases allowed. So we talked for a little bit more. Then we all decided it was time to call it a night. So we packed it in and stumbled back to our respective bedrooms and that is where the story ends my friends.

All and all it was a very good night and just what I needed. Work had stressed me out and I needed to forget about everything that was going on around me and refocus on the important things in life...Friends, Good Times, the Old Days and Fun.

And Beer of course the magical drink that cures all and makes me get after it!

BTW this occured 7/31/2009 and was written on 8/1/2009. I just didn't get around to posting it till now. Hope you liked it.

2009-07-27T22:54:00.001-07:00

Crazy. My iPhone (yes, I have an iPhone now) is all set up for ratrace posting. In case you didn't know, I was in San Diego this weekend. Not for comic con like Pete, Lauri and Randy, but to visit Dave.
So let me paraphrase the trip for now (this post is only a test):
1. Tom fell down twice.
2. Danny apparently has a problem telling twenties from ones in dim light.
3. Dave hasn't got laid in a long time.
4. Tim is gonna be mad when he sees his table. Tim is always mad anyway.
5. Ron snores I snore we all snore.
Tbc....

Film Fest Update

2009-07-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a tentative screening line-up for the film fest. We reserve the right to change our minds up to the last minute:

Rocky III
Torque
The Big Lebowski
Punisher: War Zone
Point Break
Tombstone
Evil Dead II
TBD

I'm not sure about the last one yet, I'm thinking about either book ending with Stallone and showing Rambo: First Blood II (Directed by the same guy who did Tombstone I just found out) or an Edgar Wright/Quentin Tarantino recommendation called Silent Rage starring the man who leaves a trail of tears and blood wherever he goes...one Chuck Norris. We'll start screening at 8am and take a lunch break around 11:30am so if there is a movie you really wanna see you can work out the schedule from here.

So Many Movies, So Little Time

2009-07-13T23:49:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get pretty excited and about Pete & Randy's 1st annual Film Fest Marathon. Here's whats on my short list so far. This is without having seen Randy's list yet. I'll have to narrow it down to 4 which is going to be difficult:
1) Bottle Rocket
2) Rushmore
3) The Big Lebowski
4) Raiders of the Lost Ark
5) Jaws
6) Tombstone
7) Raising Arizona
8) Cool Hand Luke
9) Big Trouble in Little China
10) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

This is Really Happening

2009-07-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, Randy and I are going to do a 16 hour film festival at my house. 4 of the films will be his picks. 4 of the films will be my picks. There is no theme and there are no rules, except that for timing's sake they can't be much over 2 hours. Talking and commentary will not only be allowed but encouraged so long as its of a filmic nature. I would like to invite anyone and everyone to stop in throughout the day anytime for some good cinema, beer and good converstation. The screenings have not yet been announced, but will be within the next few days. I'm not sure if I'm going to publish the order or not, you might just have to take your chances. Rest assured though that anytime you stop by, we will be screening a bit of cinematic gold.

2009-07-12T15:01:00.001-07:00

The guy in the middle is Randy's Dad.

It's not a fake, here's the link

One question

2009-07-12T08:32:00.001-07:00

Why is it that a flight between Chicago and LA only costs $289 or so?
But a flight from Cordova to LA costs $806?

Things that make you go hmmm...

Possible Answers

2009-07-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

1) When there is only one road, there are only so many ways to identify it.
2) Since man's early days he gathered around the fire for warmth and protection. People are naturally drawn to it. Also, when the parents live on a virtual island there is really isn't anyway to get them out of the house for the night.
3)That wasn't really a question.
4)Alcohol. Remember kegs in the pool? Urination into the neighbors yard. Vomit on your bed. It's all interrelated.
5) Probably because when you pay all that money for a big truck you would expect that it could make its way out of a puddle.
6)if you think she was sucking them off then yes. Self esteem issues. I will say this, you were probably the only one besides the four that noticed. You always were a keen observer of the human condition.
7)Damp conditions, out of control breeding and no natural predators. Don't you guys have bats up there?
8)Again, yes you should have. You should have disappeared on that thing and hid it behind a tree or something. 4 wheelers are fun, never pass up a chance to drive one. Just watch out for cow shit.
9)You should have "done" her. Let people think it chicks like guys with skills. Acting skills, improv skills, video game skills.
10) "You're here to save the world, what a mind job...what do you say to something like that"

Questions I thought about at a Party

2009-07-08T12:35:00.001-07:00

I went to a roadside party here in Cordova on the 4th of july. I was invited by some people who graduated high school 1 year ago. They even didn't invite me to bring beer when I asked they said they had enough. But there were a bunch of questions I came up with.
1. Party was at Mile 27 why are there no adresses or streets. Everything here is done by mile markers. This was the 3rd party where the directions to the party were given by number of miles. The others were at 6 mile, 23 mile, now 27 mile.
2. Why do all parties here contain a bonfire are there no house parties here.
3. Kids asking me I bet Mrs. Moe doesn't know I do this while they are drinking. I guess they think my Mom is a retard.
4. Why people here throw fireworks into the ground. They lit them and threw them in the ground they weren't set in the ground. This resulted in a girls hair being singed which nobody apologized for.
5. Why do people who drive big trucks get all mad when their trucks get stuck in the puddle of water and mud they were driving through.
6. There was a girl who left with a different boy 4 times and then they came back 15 minutes later. Were they doing what I think they were doing.
7. Why are there so many mosquitoes
8. Should I ask to take this guys 4 wheeler for a spin. About 5 people did and they said it was the best 4 wheeler they had ever been on.
9. People thinking I "did" that gossip girl (Blake Lively) when I was doing the movie Accepted cuz I was in her trailer one time.
MOST IMPORTANTLY
10. Why am I here

It was fun but I think these are interesting questions that could lead to interesting posts. If any of you have answeres to these questions either comment or post them. Later.

"War is destructive, even for the victors."

2009-07-07T23:51:00.000-07:00

As I write this a fairly large spider dangles to my right, building some kind of web nest. I am trying to keep an eye on this pest, this hated animal, when I realize it is on the move, directly behind me it crawls across an invisible bridge across the steps on which I sit. Just as it reaches the other side, it surprisingly falls. I've lost sight of this dangerous entity, the common house arachnid. I not so slowly get to my feet to see it had crawled right up to my butt, presumably to kill me and make a mockery of his whole proceeding.
I stare the spider down as he crawls over the book by Sun Tzu I am reading. At this point is the best time to destroy my enemy but I decide to let them live. Maybe one day an enemy of mine could afford me the same mercy.
He crawls over the front cover, spine and back cover as if to mock my efforts at self-learning, and then not so slowly creeps up into the night.

A Plea

2009-07-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

Could somebody please post something? I haven't been in a writing mood lately and I have to chose the subject matter a little more carefully since the audience has *ahem* widened.

2009-06-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX

Pete to Randy

2009-06-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

I might get Hawk: The Slayer in the mail today so you might want to work that into your planning process. In the DVD commentary in the Spaced episode that references the movie, Edgar Wright says it's a very bad movie, so we may be in for a crapfest delight. You know what my favorite bad movie that we watched is? Ghost Ship. I really love that opening scene where the cable slices everybody in half, its craptacular. I'm excited to see what you have in mind for tonite. Your last stint planning a night out turned out to be a real adventure. They told me to tell you "Hi" at Applebee's last night. After I explained that you were in a bad place, mentally that fateful night they understood. "The aftermath of Taken has been hard on us all" they said. Anyway, they say no hard feelings you can come back any time. They wanted to know how you liked Watchmen but I just said, "don't ask." I hope your plans tonight don't involve going to Hollywood and Highland like you suggested last night. I have to be honest, I'm so old now that I don't even really know what that is. Does Paris Hilton hang out there? I still say that if I got a chance to lay down some tight beats for Paris that she would dig me. Not that I like Paris, but it would be an interesting sociological experiment wouldn't it.

Thoughts while driving the interstate 10 West

2009-05-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

Clearman's Galley (the new one) is just OK. I have not established a great rapport with the place, not like I did the old one. I used to like sitting by the big-screen tv in the southeast corner. Now most of the tvs adorn spaces near the ceiling, and they are too small for such viewing from afar. I miss the little dinghy with all the condiments and napkins, what not as well. I like the full bar. But I haven't gotten used to the cleanliness in presentation and lines that the new Boat offers. Plus, for some strange reason (probably only in my mind) the food don't taste as good as it usedta.

It is faster to take the I-60 than it is to take the I-10. Also, instead of taking just the I-5 to Disneyland, take (edit)HWY 57 instead. It turns into the five. Much better, trust me.

There are a gang of strip clubs in Industry. I have been to some of them.

Superhero movies usually let me down. The last one I saw, "Hellboy" on DVD was a pleasant surprise. Either I want to have zero expectations going in, or I want the movie to be utterly faithful to the source material. No mixing and matching for the sake of cramming as much action into the movie as possible. For example, I thought X-Men 3 was craptacular because they tried to include too many characters thus neglecting the storyline which was completely bloated with too many ideas. Stick to one or two plots. With Hellboy, I had no idea what was going on yet I enjoyed it because the plot seemed straightforward.

Ronald Reagan was a war criminal.

I never worry about the gas tank anymore because I always fill it up when stopping for fuel. A sign of maturity? I dunno.

oh what a beautiful morning.

2009-05-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

i took this picture from my patio yesterday morning before leaving for work. it's so purty here.

The Pantene Effect

2009-05-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

There was no bar soap in the shower this morning. Which I knew because there was no bar soap in the shower yesterday, because I used it all. But of course my half sleeping pre-morning shower brain didn't realize this until I was good and wet. Lauri had already left for work so there was no yelling out, "Lauri, bring me some soap!" So two very simple options present themselves, the first is to towel off, walk to the hall closet, dripping on the carpet on the way and get a new bar of soap orrrrrr I could improvise. Shampoo is soap right? It's just liquid soap. People use liquid soap all the time with those loofas. So yes, I washed myself with shampoo this morning. I washed my armpits, I washed my apendages, and yes I washed my unmentionables with shampoo. I find that my pubes are especially soft, shiny and managable today.
***As of this publication there is still no bar soap in the shower

The problem is...

2009-05-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

I got nothing to do. If you have read all 10 previous posts. You are either thinking man Randy is super lame, a total genius or has too much free time at work. I would have to agree with you on the last two not so much the first.

A Friendly Haiku

2009-05-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

Pete is my best friend (5)
Lauri is my best girlfriend (7)
Tim is real cool too (5)

Another haiku for you

2009-05-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

Seven hours gone (5)
Only one more hour left (7)
Then to home I go (5)

Started something

2009-05-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Did you ever start something that at first you thought was a great idea but then about halfway through you thought about it and what once seemed like a great idea wasn't anymore?

Postponed

2009-05-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

The Forever21 company picnic was scheduled for Saturday May 16 but due to the recent public concerns over the spread of the H1N1 flu and the Company’s priority on the health & safety of our employees, the annual picnic has been postponed until September.
Damn swine flu I wanted a big TV.

Don't forget

2009-05-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

Don't forget everyone the 3rd Annual JBC is this Saturday!!
Be there or be square.

Really?

2009-05-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

So you'd think a guy who works on computers all day and night would be able to figure out how to change some small details on the blog as he sees fit. You'd be wrong.

Old Posts

2009-05-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

If you haven't checked it out you should definitely check out older posts they are far more entertaining than my haiku.

A little Haiku for you

2009-05-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Sitting here at work (5)
8 o clock nothing to do (7)
This is my haiku (5)

-Randy

Movie Quote

2009-05-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.

Pubs?

2009-05-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

Pete brought up an interesting point to me on Sunday, I believe.
Why are there no pubs here? And if there are where are they?

PETE! Free comic book day is this Saturday!!!

2009-04-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

HIT THAT SHIT UP... Everyone else interested... here's a link:

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/

This is what a Google search led me to....

2009-04-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

I can't even begin to recall how I came to search Google images for St. Elizabeth Church photos... but that led me to Altadena's website. Then I read an abridged history of the City of Altadena (written by Mike Manning... ha!). That brought me to a blog written mainly by members of the Altadena Chamber of Commerce - when this article caught my eye. I'd love to hear what you guys think since I'm removed from the situation now.

http://ywcapasadena.blogspot.com/2008/08/wrong-side-of-tracks.html

We Kick ASS!!!!!

2009-04-20T14:37:00.000-07:00

I just read all of 2005 posts or at least skimmed through all of them while listening to my ipod. After getting pissed that I'm not there and also crying from laughing so hard. I came to the realization that everyone who is on this blog KICKS SERIOUS ASS!!!!!!! I mean it all of you guys are great. Dammit! I wish it was still 2005 partly because I had a high society girlfriend in Haylie Duff. Just thought I should say that. I would blog more but I got nothing to blog about.

The Graveyard Shift

2009-04-17T03:12:00.000-07:00

Ha. My dad used to work at the big Post Office on Lincoln, pretty much for as long as I was alive, til he died. He worked some weird hours; he'd leave after dinner at around 530 and get back home 'round 230 in the am. Me and my sister, Angela, watching reruns of Taxi and Tales From the Darkside would see the headlights and hear his car pull into the driveway as we scurried to our rooms.

I wonder if my mom ever thought that my dad cheated on her? Probably, I guess that's natural? But after he passed, some of his friends told me they admired that my dad never really looked at any other chicks even when they went out drinkin. Don't really know if that's true but I appreciate it I guess.

Anyway that's a weird way to start a post. I was reminded of stayin up late probably because of Randy's post title and also because I am actually staying up late too. Why am I up late you ask. Well I am painting a portrait of George and Priscilla Miranda. Why am I doing you wonder. Well I am a motherfucker I guess. But it's fun times believe it or not, I did a shot or two of Maker's and washin it down with some Heiny.

Times are alright. I wish it was hott already. I still work too much thought most of my time is spent playing basketball and making food. So that's pretty cool. Then again my work and home life intersect so much that I really actually live inside my own rat race, only there's no race, only kids who need food and guidance.

Oh by the way!!! There's a party here at Southwestern Academy (2800 Monterey Rd. San Marino 91108...Dave knows where it is he takes advantage of the gym every so) called ArtsFest at the end of the month, Apr 30th a Tuesday to be exack. And you all are invited. There's art and music and a fashion show I think? And me and Steffanie is gonna be there. PLus I have some pieces I been working on there. So it would be cool and it starts at 2pm until sunset. Also there is raffles for thinks like wiis and bicycles.

enough self-promotion... did i tell you guys the steff is my beer pong partner in the upcoming JBC?? (JOE BIMA CLASSIC!!!) this is the thrid annual one, suckas!!!

ps i don't think you guyse are suckers. thanks for reading this far i love you.

The Late Shift

2009-04-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

So hey all. I haven't blogged in a while and I am not sure why i am now. Possibley because for some unknown reason this is the only website I can access at work. They must not have known too much about this when they blocked certain sites from viewing.
Anyway so I here at work and frankly am bored to death. I can only listen to my iPod for so long. Especially when they are all songs you have heard so many times. But that's life. So working at night sucks more or less because it is slow which is cool sorta however with no calls intense boredom sets in and with nothing to relieve it. It has been known to lead to madness.
With happiness though I can report I do have Friday and Saturday off for sure. Hopefully Sunday and Monday as well. I have worked 10 days in a row I think I deserve it. And before I get replies saying I work more than 10 days all the time, relax. I am not saying my job is harder or I deserve these days off more than you, just saying.
I think I will attempt to drink some this weekend. Hopefully this will lead to madcap and pointless adventures. Aren't those the best though. Anyway, why do I say anyway a lot? So...
I just got a call from a Store. As you probably all know I work for an IT Support Call Center. We answer the problems and fix problems for people who are not very computer savvy let's say. They are idiots. So like I said I just got a call. The store informs me the time on their registers is wrong. WAIT. What? Yes DST change happened like what a month ago and this Store is just now realizing that maybe this is why their Sales have been off for like the past month. Like I said savvy. I get calls like this every day. Sometimes they actually have problems that I can't fix or are challenging. But no most of the time, "My computer froze." RESTART THE DAMN THING! This isn't fucking rocket science is it? Sorry I have to vent sometimes.
Well I am going to go back to trying to do something productive. I know this post wasn't the best. But it is something to read for 5 minutes. Later y'all.

2009-04-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

HAPPY EASTER

Oldies but Goodies!

2009-04-11T18:53:00.000-07:00

I'd like to suggest to all of you reading the old posts we use to write. Our template has a nice feature that allows you to go back to 2005 if you wish. Check it out....

Twitter?

2009-04-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

Well its been a long time since i've blogged. Work has been ridiculous lately so i kinda blame that on not blogging. But who am i kidding, i just wouldn't anyway. I do love looking at the pics Sheila has been adding. Keep us (me) updated on the house/move.

So at work the other day, i went to a seminar on how to Tweet on Twitter. Twitter has its own lingo and its own world. We were taught by an English fellow who had a great accent; I think that had made the seminar more interesting. He showed us youtube videos and statistics about Twitter. After going to this seminar, i've decided that Twitter isn't for me. Your allowed only 140 characters to type and everyone can see it and then they can "follow" you. The only thing that was kinda interesting was using "tweet-ups". You send out a "Tweet-Up" and say that you'll be at Matt Denny's and then people will "Follow" you. i just wanna send out a text to certain people and hope they join me. i'm a simple girl i guess. :) Are any of you on Twitter?

little house on the prairie

2009-03-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

here's a picture of the house matt and i are buying. it's not little... but it is on the prairie. it's a bit rough now but it'll be amazing when we're done with it! i'll post updates of our remodel.

Back with a wimper

2009-03-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

It's hard to follow up a good post. Randy's rampage got a lot of buzz and I wanted to continue the trend but I didn't know how. I couldn't keep up the "Randy does something unexpected" theme forever. Anyway, thats the mostly the reason for the long silence. That and the fact that I singlehandedly opened a new convention center (at least thats how it will read on my resume). Oh yeah, and I've fought off the Ebola virus once again. Still I have had several things on my mind that I think are worth sharing.
Number One:
I've decided that if I could be in any band at time throughout history, it would be Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Number Two:
I saw Watchmen on opening night and it was everything I hoped it wouldn't be. It was just okay. Besides changing the ending which I thought was a cop out, it hit all the major plot points and cut out all the subtlety and layering. Zak Snyder did nothing with the source material that could not have been done by any run of the mill hack director. However, I actually think it disappointed me enough that I'll never watch it again and stick to reading the book every few years.
Number Three:
I wish reality TV of any kind could be uninvented. I have nothing against midgets, drug addicts, fat people, people trying to buy, sell or improve thier homes, people trying to become or remain famous, I just wish I could not see those particular people on TV ever.

2009-03-10T17:39:00.001-07:00

Is that not the cutiest fucking thing you've ever seen in your life?

A special present for Pete

2009-02-20T06:10:00.000-08:00

I've never met someone so dedicated to the fine art of swearing like Pete. He's the only person I know to have judged a movie for not having enough use of the word "fuck". In his honor, I present to you every swear ever used in the entire run of the Sopranos:

the sopranos, uncensored. from victor solomon on Vimeo.

The latest:

2009-02-20T05:18:00.000-08:00

Matt celebrated his 32nd birthday on Monday - we had a good old fashioned birthday party (as evidenced by the cake). Just look at the excitement on his face! My parents and I went in on a Wii for Matt... we haven't spent any quality time together since!

Closing day was changed to March 5th - less than two weeks from today. So now we start packing up our life. I took the dogs out this morning and wondered, "What if I just left all this poo in the yard?" Thank God I worked at Uline - we were able to get a ton of stuff for cheap.

I guess that's about it. Matt's back from Vegas tonight (business, not pleasure). Alice went to the vet again yesterday - she has a going problem that's becoming a growing problem. But she's on medication for a couple weeks - I'll let you know how she's doing (Lauri).

Top 5 Singers

2009-02-10T15:25:00.000-08:00

Cuz we haven't done one in a long time I thought we could do another Top 5 but this time list the sexy sirens who melt your heart with their voices:

1. Leona Lewis - A sexy british girl who has a nice body, writes her own songs, has a sexy british accent . . . oh she can sing good too.
2. Britney Spears - After absence from the Top 5 she jumps back in with her hot bod and her catchy pop ditties.
3. Katy Perry - Am I the only one that finds her very sexy? She admits she kissed a girl and she liked it. By the way Maxim said they longed for her a bi -curious preacher's daughter who looks like she should be painted on a B-52 bomber. I agree.
4. Hayley Williams (of Paramore) - Any girl who can yell and rock out is hot.
5. Taylor Swift - Hottest Country singer out there who's also making counrty wildly popular (but Randy might think otherwise).