Spring Training 2005 Group Photo

My friend just sent me this photo of my friends and I taken at the Braves park in Orlando during Spring Training. Yes, the shadows are shading our faces, but you can still see that we are all having a great time.

Comic Book Conventions Web Site

Somehow a link to my blog made it on the site comicbookconventions.com. My blog is being visited constantly by people interested in last weekends Comic-Con here in San Diego. I now wish that I had brought my camera and had taken more photos to share like I did last year. I'd like to thank all those visitors who spent their time reading my posts.

Comic-Con 2005: Days 2 & 3

Saturday started off with breakfast at Dublin Square - the same place I ate dinner the night before. I won't say the food was bad, but it was cold and the portions were small. After a quick walk to the Convention Center, I began my tour of the booths that I missed the day before - mostly the big corporate ones like Star Wars. Pictured below is a Christmas tree that has way more geeky ornaments than my tree. Because my legs were tired from the day before I ventured to the Stargate panel. Since I don't watch the show I took a lunch break until the Family Guy panel started. They showed a few clips from the new Family guy DVD movie and explained that the DVD had good stuff that they can't show on television, which is hard to believe after last weeks barfing scene (which was really funny).

I then tried to get into the Serenity panel but the line was too long, so I went to listen to Ray Bradbury and other legendary authors speak. All three were very old and had to be reminded constantly what they were talking about. I almost fell asleep until the moderator called up a special guest: Arnold Kunert. Never heard of him before? That's because he is a nobody. His only claim to fame is that he knows Ray Bradbury and apparently got Ray Harryhausen an academy award. How do I know Arnold Kunert? He was my neighbor and English teacher in high school. He was a bad neighbor (with a mean wife) but a good teacher.

The next presentation in this room was The Simpsons. Matt Groening is always fun to listen to. He's one of those people who never has a serious answer to a fan's question. The highlight of the panel was when they showed the introduction scene to this years Halloween special.

After that panel was over is was time for dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery with a group of fellow Comic-Con attendees. Nothing tastes better than a good Stout beer after a day of watching people dressed up as their favorite movie or comic book character. In fact, as we walked to the trolley, we saw Chewbacca riding in a pedicab up 5th Ave - classic!

Sunday I had intended to buy some action figures, but didn't because then I would have to carry them home on a crowed trolley. I just attended two panels: The 4400 and Starship Smackdown Finale. The 4400 is a show on the USA network that I had never seen befpre. They showed a new episode and it was surprisingly good! I might even DVR a few episodes. The Q&A was not so good since one of the producers (Ira Steven Behr of Deep Space Nine) did all the talking while the actors just sat there waiting for him to shut up. Since I had to rid myself of some morning coffee, I left and had lunch.

The final panel of the day was the Starship Smackdown. This is one of the geekiest panels at the Con. Basically a group of seven sci-fi "experts" debate which starship (of 16 chosen by the audiance) would win in a battle against another starship. This years winner: The Defiant from Star Trek DS9 (which beat the Millenium Falcon). It was way past my time to go home and get ready for my return to work after a two week vacation. I really need to find a way to retire at age 38. I'd like to take a two week vacation every two weeks.

I want this tree!

Homer on tree.

Comic-Con 2005: Day 1

After a much needed eight hours of sleep, I continued my vacation by going down to the convention center for the 2005 Comic-Con. The parking lot at the trolley station was already full, so I headed downtown and found parking near a shuttle stop. The shuttle got stuck in traffic, but I still got there before 10 AM and quickly obtained my pass. The day started out poorly because they were making everyone line up in rows upstairs to enter the exhibit hall. By the time my row was let in, all the doors to the hall were already wide open! Way to control the crowds.

I headed straight to the Diamond Select Toys booth hoping to buy the Welcome to the Hellmouth Vampire Darla Figure. Only 1500 of these figures were made and they had been on sale for over a day, so I was afraid they would be sold out. Luckily, there were stacks of them left so I bought one. The DST booth also announced autograph signing by various actors, including Clare Kramer, who played the hell goddess Glorificus on Buffy the Vampile Slayer season 5. I finally decided to get her autograph (which did cost $15, including a 8x10 photograph of her). She was actually very nice. She asked my how my day was and signed the photo "Keith, Y Best Wishes, Clare Kramer". Very nice. Something to frame and hang on my wall.

Most of the day was spent wandering up and down the halls looking at all the exhibits. This is no easy task since the hall is so big - just ask my legs! The only panel I wanted to see today was the Battlestar Galactica one. They had a producer and some of the cast. This show must be popular because the room was almost full and the audience was very loud. Other than showing a few previews of season 2, there wasn't much to see. After that panel was a presentation of Bones, a new drama on Fox. They ended up showing the pilot episode in its entirety. The episode started off really good, but ended rather abruptly. The star of the show, Emily Deschanel, and supporting actor, David Boreanaz, spoke after the screening. I must say that David Boreanaz is a much better speaker. He was both very funny and intelligent sounding. Emily Deschanel played her role as a forensic anthropologist perfectly, but when answering questions she sounded like an idiot with her silly giggle.

I had some time left so I walked over to the Star Wars Spectacular, hosted by Steve Sansweet. I was an hour late and didn't see any surprise guests they might of had. When the Q&A started, I headed out the door and ended up at an Irish Pub drinking beer and eating a chicken boxty - very tasty. Now I need to rest up for the biggest day - Saturday.

Anakin/Darth Vader

First Half of Vacation is Over

I'm back from Lake Tahoe - many blogs posts to come, including non-cell phone photos. These posts will have to wait since I'm going to Comic-Con for the next three days (missed today due to long drive home), which I will also be blogging about daily.

Lake Tahoe From Roof of House

Deck view

Eagle Lake

Hike to lake.

Poker Game.

Poker

Fun at Zephyr Cove

Beach

Devil's Postpile

Devils Postpile

Inyo Crater at Mammoth.

Inyo Crater

Rainbow Falls at Devil's Postpile

Rainbow Falls

Off I am to Bishop

So I'm having this dream where I'm running from a huge tornado that is heading towards me and I suddenly wake up - just it time! Then I hear my quiet doorbell ring. It is the windshield repair man. Since they didn't call me back I wasn't expecting him, but I'm glad my car is ready for the road trip. So off to Bishop, CA I go.

Packed and Ready to go

I'm leaving tomorrow for my vacation to Lake Tahoe via Bishop and Mammoth. My car is packed with everything I might need including a box containing among other items Windex and paper towels in an attempt to keep a family tradition alive. My only stress right now is I was going to have a crack in my windshield repaired today but the damage was to much so the windshield needs replacing. No time for that until I get back.

I might have access to a computer and internet on this trip but I like to avoid computers when I'm on vacation, so I might just be posting photos taken from my cell phone. I will have my digital camera, so expect copious pictures to be posted upon my return.

Pacific Beach on the 4th

I took this photo as I rode my bike along the boardwalk in Pacific Beach. All these people having fun in the California sun. I began my morning trek (on my Trek) near Sea World. I followed the bike paths to Ocean Beach where I had to dodge lots of dogs, especially near Dog Beach. The smell of all the BBQs made me hungry. From there I biked to Mission Beach, with a detour out on the jetty. From Mission Beach I followed the board walk to Pacific Beach. The city did a great job of widening the path, making room for bikers and pedestrians. However, this improvement only works if the people walking stay out of the bike lane! Anyways, feeling famished, I ended up at Jack In the Box where I bought a bacon double cheese burger on Ciabatta bread. I don't eat many burgers these days and this one tasted stupendous. With my full stomach, I headed over to Sail Bay and wound my way back to my car (encountering many clueless people standing in the middle of the bike path). The round trip took about three hours. Now it is beer time.

Craziness

Now what? 'P' is on the table, 'T' is making faces and 'S' - well he is in his own world. This picture would be better without all the clutter in the foreground. However, I'm just happy that I got a photo of 'T' before she left us.

I'm on Vacation!

So now what? My plans take me to Mammoth next Thursday. I'm thinking of leaving a day early and staying in Bishop on Wednesday. Tuesday I have some chores to attend to at home. So that leaves the 4th and this weekend. No plans for the 4th. Sunday I might go to the O.C. for some entertainment. Saturday sounds like a good day for a bike ride around the bay. And tonight, Friday? Well, I was going to go camping again but it turned into a situation of "Two's Company and Three's a crowd". Oh well. Time to catch up on T.V., laundry and blogging.

More Picacho Pictures

Steve enjoying a massage. I hope my turn is next.

Another view of the surrounding scenery. Just before sunset the rocks seem to glow brilliantly.

Weekend Camping Trip

This weeks camping trip to Picacho was an adventure. The drive out there was fun, camping was an experience, and the drive home - not so good. First, the drive there. My friend who I go camping with managed to bring along two new people, both of who drove. So for the drive out there, he and I switched who we rode with half way there. This gave me time to get to know each of these women. It was nice to have someone new to talk to.

Once we got to our camp site, where we were the only ones crazy enough to be out in the 105 degrees heat, we got our rafts full of air, our coolers full of beer and headed out to the lake. We floated around for almost four hours. Time went by really quick. As the sun set, we needed to get to camp to set up our tents. Also at this time, sadly, one of the newbies had to pack up and go home. The evening flew by as we sat around drinking, talking and listening to music. Somewhere around midnight the moon rose and it look really small, for some reason. Well, the next thing I remember is waking up in the morning not feeling so good.

I just laid around all morning as the other two went back out onto the lake for awhile. After packing up, we headed home. That's when the trouble began. First, the car began to overheat. We stopped a few times to check on the engine. Then we hit our first delay. Seems a fire was causing long delays. Once we got past that we stopped again for the border checkpoint. Somewhere along the way there was a third delay, an accident I think. As we got closer to home, the car troubles got worse. The car accelerator was getting stuck. Pressing on the breaks caused the car to not stop. We were lucky to get home. For the last few miles we had to run stop signs because we couldn't stop. Turns out that the accelerator cable broke, which I didn't think could happen.

It took me two days to "recover" from this trip and now I'm ready to do it again this weekend. In fact, after tomorrow, I'm on vacation for two long weeks! You can expect more blog posts to come.

Picacho 2005 Trip

This weekend was my third annual camping trip to Picacho. I took many photo, most of which look like the ones I have taken previously. I will post more pictures and stories about this trip soon. See, I'm still recovering from the trip - too much fun in the hot sun.

Comic-Con 2005 is Arriving Soon

It is that time of year: Comic-Con 2005 is soon approaching. I have my four-day pass, however, I will me missing Thursday as I will driving home from Lake Tahoe that day. Thursday is a good day to go because the line to get your pass is shorter and the crowds are smaller. I just found out that there will be an exclusive action figure available from Diamond Select Toys: Vampire Schoolgirl Darla. This is the figure that was announced by DST some time ago and never was released. That is the good news. The bad news (for me) is that the figure will go on sale Wednesday, and there will only be 1500 of them. Since I won't be there until Friday, I can only hope that the figure has not sold out. In addition, Julie Benz, the actress that played Darla, will be there signing on Saturday. So even if I don't get the figure, I can at least get her autograph.

(Yes, I am over my "bloggers block").

Street Scene 2005 Follow-up

After having bashed this years Street Scene concert event here in San Diego, I ended up buying a ticket. The lineup on Friday is too good to pass up. In my opinion, the best band playing that night is Garbage. I like all their albums, plus, when I saw them play live opening up for No Doubt, they rocked! Yes, if I want to drink beer, and I plan to, I will be in a fenced-in section, but I guess that is the price to pay for ... something. Speaking of prices, why do they charge $2 for ticket delivery when you print-out your ticket on your own printer?!!!? What's the deal with that? Well, anyways, see you there.

Helpless at Breakfast

So I'm making my breakfast this morning and all I had to eat was a box of cold cereal. As a tried to open the tightly closed bag, it suddenly burst open and flakes went everywhere! What was a man like me to do? Go to Carl's Jr. and buy a breakfast burger. Boy, was it big and tasty (and greasy). I was also surprisingly happy with their new coffee. Perhaps better than Starbucks. Actually, the reason I ate breakfast there was at 7 AM the contractors arrived at my home to finish the ceiling work they started the day before. Having the day off work, I had to find something to do for six hours, and most stores don't open until 9 AM. I ended up in a bank parking lot resting in my car at 8:30 waiting for the doors to open. I must have looked suspicious setting there - I'm surprised the guard didn't ask me what I was doing. However, I eventually got all my chores done by the time the workers finished with their work at my home. That left me with plenty of time to get ready for my first camping trip of the year. I am going to the Colorado River, where the temperature is expected to rise to 106! Plenty of beer, water and beer will take care of that situation. Stay tuned for photos of this trip - if I survive.

White Walls

It is hard to tell what your looking at here, but it is my ceiling with the acoustic (popcorn) covering removed. I had all but one closet done. Now I need to get it all painted. The home improvements never end. I plan on getting all my walls painted soon. Plus, I might want to get ceiling fans installed in some of the rooms before I get the painting done. What next, the kitchen? Well, I looked in Home Depot today.

Strange Men are Lurking Outside my House

Last night while I was watching baseball, I heard what sounded like someone walking towards my door. I looked and didn't see anyone, but then a voice said "It's me". I turned on the porch light and a poorly dressed man was standing there. He asked me if he could use my phone. Keeping my security screen door locked, I handed him my cordless phone under the opening. He looked like he dialed a number, listened and hung up. He said thanks for letting someone I don't know use my phone. I said "sure", but watched to make sure he left. I assume he was homeless and maybe looking for an easy steal to buy drugs, but he was very nice to me.

Then, tonight when I got home from work, I heard someone out on my patio. I opened the blinds and there was a man washing my windows! Well, I half expected him since he was the one who I talked to the night before (I got a free window cleaning with my new windows). However, he said he couldn't make it tonight and would call me. Today he said he had extra time, so after 2 hours he cleaned all my windows, inside and out, and did a great job.

Now on Thursday and Friday someone will be over to remove my "popcorn" ceiling. Hopefully he'll be done before I leave for my camping trip this weekend out in the hot desert, and hopefully no one will be lurking around my home while I'm gone.

I Saw the Sun Today!

And it was beautiful! I had forgotten what it looked like in the morning with the sun shining. No fog or drizzle as I drove to work, where I spend the whole day inside a cold, windowless room. I gotsta figure out how to retire soon - like tomorrow. I went to a retirement dinner last night for a man who is about to turn 67. I know that in 30 years I'm not going to still be working, that's for sure.

New Post

What a slow week. I have nothing to post about, so I'm posting just because. So here is what's happening. Well, I have new blinds in my bedroom, I haven't seen the sun in weeks and MJ is innocent. That's about it.

Young, Rich, White Women

What am I talking about? The media reporting constantly about something bad happening to young, rich, white women. Example: Natalee Holloway (disappeared in Aruba), Jennifer Willbanks (Runaway Bride), Danville van Dam (murdered by neighbor), Laci Peterson (killed at Christmas time) and Elizabeth Smart (kidnapped in Utah). Why do we care? People die everyday. Is it media hipe? Yes. Is it news? Maybe. Do I care? Yes. Why? I can't say. Let's just say that when I found out that Elizabeth Smart was found alive that I was very happy and was in good mood all day. Since I was about to travel to Salt Lake City soon, I did have somewhat of a connection, but not knowing the victim or her family, why did I care? Media hipe. Just now I see in the news that Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teenager who disappeared in Aruba, is probably dead. One of three suspects confessed to killing her - very sad. We all knew that this might happen, but were hoping for the best. Is she the first person to be killed in Aruba? Probably not. So why do we care? Because she is a young, rich, white woman. End of blog.

New Windows Installed

My new double-paned windows have been installed. It only took them 7 hours to install all the windows and two sliding-glass doors. They look great! Now lets see how cool they keep my house in the summer and how much quieter it is inside. I will have a photo soon. Also on order, vertical blinds to replace the last of my curtains. Goodbye 1970's, hello 2000's.

More Beer at Oggi's

Time to forget all that math just learned.

Beer At Oggi's

Scottish Ale - a good drink after a day of hard math.

Getting Ready for new Windows

Well, on Monday I'm getting new windows installed at my condo. I need to clear out the area in front of all windows, cover all fragile items and remove my blinds. Lots of work but the new windows will be a big improvement. They are double-panned, so more energy efficient, plus they will block outside sound. Also, they will block around 80% of UV rays. And they will look much better. I don't know where this is all leading, but on Wednesday I'll let you know how it all turns out.

End of Four Days

I started these four days off with a six mile hike and ended it with a six mile ride on my bike. In between I ate and slept.

Housing Bubble Blog

I'm not sure what the purpose of this blog about the housing bubble is, but there are some interesting posts about the housing situation around the country. Well, it might be interesting if you are a homeowner and are thinking about investing in real estate.

Yes, it is Memorial Day and here I am indoors reading blogs. Maybe a bike ride later today.

Just use Cash!

Why do some people use a credit card to pay for low priced items like a $.99 bag of ice? Just use cash! I had to wait for 5 minutes for the man in the check-out line to pay for one bag of ice! It took me less time to buy $44 worth of food. My general rule is: if the total is less than $20 I use cash. It is not that difficult people - get a clue.

Street Scene 2005

Or should it be called "Parking Lot Scene 2005"? This year the annual Street Scene is being held in the parking lot of Qualcom Stadium. The upside: more space. The downside: a parking lot? They only way I will go is if there are three good bands playing one night. If Garbage, 311 and The White Stripes are playing on the same day then I might go. But how much fun can one have in a big parking lot? The allure of the previous Street Scenes was that they took place Downtown and you could go into the local bars if you got board of the music. Plus, now that both days, Friday and Saturday, are all ages, you are forced to go to "beer gardens" to drink. A beer garden is a nice name for a fenced-in area where you can drink beer in a confined area like a wild animal!

Paris Hilton Made me Eat a Burger

Wow. Advertisements do work. I had a craving for a spicy six dollar burger from Carl's Jr. today. Boy, did it taste good. Especially with beer. Yes, I am a hungry young male - the target audience. I knew I should have invested in their stock the day before the advertisement premired, as advised by some coffee drinking man on CNBC.

After Work Hike

As you can see from the photos below, I just hiked Iron Mt. once again. I was going to do it in the morning, but decided I had time after work to hike it tonight (I got back to the bottom just as the sun set). Plus, tomorrow I can sleep in and get a good start to my four day weekend. Now my reward - a very cold beer!

Made it to the top!

Looking East from the top of the mountain.

Iron Mountain at Sunset

View from trailhead.

A Picture Share!

Car show.

Noise canceling Headphones

For the past six months I have been looking for some kind of headphones to wear at work to protect my ears. I work in a noisy room and I think the constant background noise from the air conditioners and computer fans has damaged my hearing, causing a constant ringing in my ears. Headphones that just block out sound aren't made to be used 8 hours a day. I considered getting a pair of noise canceling headphones but I didn't know if they would work well enough, plus I couldn't find any I liked. Someone at Radio Shack suggested that I try the Bose store. So I went there this weekend and tried their premium headphones and boy did they work well. They can be used without any music and without being plugged into anything. This reduces the noise by taking the sound waves and inverting them, thus reducing the sound you hear. Using the headphones for music, like all Bose products, sounded great. I bought the set and tried them out on Monday. They did a great job of reducing the noise from the air conditioners, but not so good reducing the noise from loud people. There is a side effect though - they make me dizzy and nauseous! I can't explain that. Hopefully I'll get used to their effect and the dizziness will go away.

Final Star Trek Enterprise Party

Last night I hosted a party for the last episode of Star Trek Enterprise. Everyone enjoyed the pizza and beer, the same could not be said about the last episode of Enterprise. The second-to-last episode which aired just before was probably one of the best episodes of the short lived series. Why did it take so long for the writers, directors and producers to realize that what the show needed was character development? The final episode of Enterprise was basically ruined by the characters of Commander Riker and Consoler Troi. I guess the producers decided that the Enterprise cast couldn't carry the story, so they got two popular actors from The Next Generation to join the show. Having them in the episode was a distraction and made the story confusing. There was a reason that Buffy was not in the final episode of Angel. Oh well. Maybe the next Trek series will start up in five years and Rick Berman will NOT be involved.


The highlight of the night was the drinking of Romulan Ale. This blue-green beer is a great novelty but I can't say much about its taste.

Volleyball After 10 Years

For some reason yesterday I decided to play volleyball for the first time in ten years, and today my muscles are in pain! I must be getting old. Well, it didn't help that I did a workout at the gym the day before. I hadn't planned on playing volleyball. In fact I don't even like the game anymore. But somehow I ended up at Mission Bay on a very sunny day after buying a butterscotch milkshake. So I dropped by the place my friend said he would be playing thinking it was too late, but they were just setting up the net. I remembered the basics, bump, set and spike. However, the ball never went the direction I wanted. I got better as the day went on, and must say I played no worse than I did ten years ago. At this rate I won't play volleyball again until 2015. See you there.

Framed Art

I recently had two pieces of art custom framed. The first is a poster that my Dad had stored away. He worked on the Viking project (as well as Apollo). I had this poster custom framed at Aaron Brothers and they did a great job (which they should have for the price I paid).

The second piece of art I had framed was a water color painting by my Mom. She had several water color paintings - this was the largest one. Once again, the frame and matting look very nice. Both of these pictures are now hanging on my bedroom walls.

Digital Telephone

Today two men from Time Warner Cable came to my house to install digital telephone. I had been contemplating getting this service for some time, and finally decided to sign up when I realized that I would save money each month. Now the cable company gets one big check from me for cable, internet service and telephone. I have been happy with TWC over the years, and have added services like digital cable and a digital video recorder. As an added bonus with my digital telephone, I got a new cable modem which takes advantage of their increased speed of almost 5 Mbps (megabits per second). With digital phone, I now get caller ID, which my friends will enjoy more than me, since I no longer need to screen my calls. What's next for me? A new HDTV cable box when I buy a HDTV.

I Can't find Summer

Not the woman, the weather! In Key West is was unseasonably "cold". It got down below 70 degrees at night. Then I come home and find out it rained earlier today and now it is in the low 60s. But enough about the weather, let's talk about airlines. I missed my connecting flight to San Diego (due to a broken hatch on the airplane in Miami that took 20 minutes to fix), was given a ticket on a much later flight and a stand-by on the next flight. Luckily, I was the last standby to board the next flight, so I got home only about an hour late. The plane wasn't full, but there are "weight" restrictions on these commuter flights. Happy to be home and have three days to catch up.

Chosen Spike

I got a surprise in the mailbox today - Chosen Spike. This figure was sent by Diamond Select Toys because I am a member, or Radical, as they call it. Basically a free gift. When I signed up as a Radical last year I was promised a special gift which was at the time a World Tour Willow figure. I never received that figure, so I was happy to see this gift. Chosen Spike came wrapped in a bag inside a small box. This allows me to open the bag and remove the figure, which I don't do for my other figures. Spike is obviously colored yellow/orange for some reason. It is hard to tell from the photo I took, but his mouth is open like he is about to bite someone. I will place Spike next to my Pre-production White Witch Willow where he'll look down upon me as I surf the internet.

Mattress and High-Definition Television

I wanted to follow-up on my experience with my new mattress. After sleeping on sleeping on it for over a week I can finally give my review. First, I bought the Venitia queen sized mattress at Banner Mattress, which really means nothing to anyone. It was close to their top-of-the-line mattress. It is much softer than my old mattress, which I had for only seven years. Do I sleep better? I would say no. However, I no longer have red marks on my shoulders and legs in the morning, so it must be providing less stress on me during the night. I had considered a Tempurpedic mattress, but could not justify paying $2500 for a mattress. So, I guess I'm happy with my purchase.

Now for my experience in shopping for a high-definition television. I went to three stores today and spent much time staring a three different types of HDTVs. I would say that plasma offers the best picture. However, they are about twice as expensive. I have a hard time paying $6000 for a 50 inch HDTV. I looked at a rear-projection LCD Sony, which looked pretty good, but didn't have the sharpness, color or viewing angle of the plasmas. I also looked at several rear-projection DLPs. These suffer from bad viewing angles and background light wash-out. However, I looked at a model from Samsung that looked really good. A sales man told me that Samsung will have a new model out in a month with a "3 chip" DLP that has much better color. That is the dilemma. Ever month prices will come down and technology will improve. So at some time I just have to take the plunge and buy myself a HDTV. I'm looking at mid-May right now, so stay tuned to my blog.

36 Years Later

It is a sad day in Poway. After over 36 years we are selling the family house. We moved in way back in 1969, after our Dad had this house built for his family. Now that our parents have passed away, it is time to sell the house. The second picture was taken last week. Yes, we are standing in the opposite order, but the order of heights is the same.

Bug Invasion

My house is being invaded by rolly-polly bugs! This morning I gathered up five of them and placed them back outside where they belong, just to find more of them headed in. I must admit that those bugs don't bother me at all. I'd much rather have them than the big black spiders I also keep finding (and killing). I attribute the bug onslaught on the copious amounts of rain we have received this year in Southern California. I will be getting new windows and doors soon, so maybe they will do a better job of keeping the bugs out.

Mattress Follow-up

Sunday evening after not getting my new mattress, the delivery man called and said he would deliver my new mattress Monday between 1 and 5. I told him that they ripped my mattress during the delivery today so why do I have to wait up to 4 hours when it was their mistake. He said they have four hour time frames for deliveries, but he could call me 30 minutes before they arrived. Sounds like these guys work for unions and have no flexibility at all. So at 12:45 today he called me at work, so I rushed home in 25 minutes and ended up waiting another 15 minutes. When they showed up it was the same situation. One smart guy, the driver, and one not-so-smart guy who took forever to find my mattress in the truck. Finally they placed the mattress on my bed and took away my old one, which wasn't really that old. This hassle is finally over. Now lets see how well I sleep tonight. I am so tired, that I know I'll fall asleep quickly before 10pm.

More Spring Break Photos

I have put my best photos from my Spring Break vacation on my personal web site for your viewing pleasure.

New Mattress

So yesterday I bought a new mattress from Banner Mattress. Top-of-the-line, they said. Today I waited for the delivery in their 4 hour window and after 1 1/2 hours the delivery men arrived. However, when removing the new mattress from the truck, the mattress was damaged. Now I have a new box spring but no new mattress. The two delivery men might want to work together to bring in the mattress and box springs, rather than working alone. This was the second day in a row this man damaged a mattress. I guess his days are numbered. Stay tuned.

Tru Calling Second Season

Where did this show come from? From what I read Tru Calling wasn't picked up for a second season. Then, suddenly, my DVR started recording a new episode on Thursday! Now let me regress. I started watching Tru Calling last season for one reason only - Eliza Dushku, who played Faith the Vampire Slayer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Near the end of last season they shook the show up with the addition of the character Jack, played by Jason Priesley. He added a new edge to the series. In fact, the show is so edgy now that it is almost hard for me to watch. Much like the new Battlestar Galactica. It is funny how Fox can advertise the heck for shows like American Idol but have no advertisement at all for Tru Calling. It is almost like they want the show to fail. But fail it will not as long as there are true fans like me watching television hoping for better crap than Survivor and Amazing Race (sorry Karen).

Easter Sunday Beer

This was a very different Easter. It was my first Easter ever without my Dad. Since my brother and his wife just flew to Germany, that left my sister and I to find a place to eat. We ended up at the Princess Pub & Grille in Little Italy, where we drank beer and ate fish and chips plus a tasty salmon quesadilla. It was a very enjoyable afternoon. Then I came home and took a long nap. Guess I'll be up for a while.

Spring Break 2005 - Last Day

Day 6 was our last day of vacation and our travel home day. After checking out of the hotel, we headed back to the Orioles park to see them play the Red Sox. This game was almost sold-out with the bandwagon BoSox fans. Our seats were in the shade, which was a relief, because today was the hottest day at 86 degrees. The game was fun to watch, but we had to leave by 4 PM to return the car and catch our flight. We made it to the airport in plenty of time. The flight to Dallas was on-time. However, in Dallas there was two delays. First, the flight attendants were late. Then, after we started to taxi to the runway, we stopped so they could fix an alarm that was going off in the cabin. This took about 30 minutes. We landed in San Diego at 11:45, about 45 minutes late. I got home around 12:30 in the morning and to bed by 1:30. I made the mistake of calling work in Dallas and found out there was a problem I had to fix. I was thinking of taking Friday off, but after five hours of sleep, I was getting ready for work.

This vacation was really fun. However, next year we will be back in Phoenix, where the plane trip is just one hour. I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep, and am suffering from jet-lag.

I will post more photos on my web page later this week, so check back.

Spring Break 2005 - Day 5

We decided to stay an extra day so we could take a break from baseball and go see the Florida Everglades. We were all moving slow from the night before, especially me. The closest park was Everglades Holiday Park. We would have gotten there quicker, but when we stopped for gas in Weston, FL, we couldn't find a gas station. This was some kind of resort town, where all the roads were lined with perfectly groomed, evenly spaced trees. No buildings of any kind were visible from the roads. Every time we asked someone for directions, they told us to go the opposite direction than we were heading. Finally we found a station and headed to the park. There was about a 30 minutes wait for a boat, and luckily it wasn't very full. The tour was one hour long and narrated by the captain. Our guide had been working there for 20 years and knew where to find the alligators. The first alligator we saw was named Hansom, because for being an old alligator, he had only a few cuts. This gator didn't mind the boat and sat there for our picture taking. The guide explained the history of the Everglades, how the wildlife survive and what all the plants were. We saw about six alligators, including males, females and a two year old. The female was the most threatening one. She looked like she was ready to jump in the boat, but she didn't. The boat ride itself was half the fun. The guide got the boat going full speed and navigated the canals like a pro. The water was perfectly flat, so the ride was very smooth. Back at the dock, Steve and I headed to the second half of the show, where we saw some scary looking, pirate-like man wrestle an alligator. The gator didn't put up much of a fight. In fact, is was kind of sad. This show lasted only 10 minutes and I took no photos.

Our next stop was the hotel for me and poker for the others. I slept and got ready for the evening, which began with dinner at a nearby restaurant. The food was really good, and expensive. I ate the Chilean sea bass which was topped with a delicious sauce. After dinner we went to a place in Hollywood for some entertainment. Let's just say photos were not allowed in this establishment. By 1:30 AM we were tired and so our last full day ended.

Spring Break 2005 - Day 4

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale early enough to pre-checkin to our hotel, which was right on the beach. We drove to the park to see the Tampa Bay Devil Rays play the Baltimore Orioles. This park was the least noteworthly one on the trip, however, we did have excellent seats behind homeplate. Nobody really cares about these two team, including us, so after a few beers and a sausage, we went to the hotel. For dinner we ate at Hooters, where the service was bad but the food was good. Steve asked the concierge where to go for a wild Spring Break experience and he directed us to the Baja Club downtown. We took a taxi there where we had a very interesting conversation with the Jamaican driver about American politics. The deal at the Baja club was with the $15 admission you get to drink for free all night. When we walked in there were only a handful of people there. However, it was only ten. We got our first free drink, a rum and coke, and found a place to eat. The main events for this night was foam dancing and a wet tee shirt contest. We came looking for decadence and debauchery and weren't leaving until we saw it. As the night went on the club got really crowded. It took awhile before people started to dance in the foam that was falling from above, but finally some brave party-goers jumped in. After watching them dance in the foam for about an hour, I had just enough to drink to jump in myself. I hadn't intended to do this, and was not dressed appropriately, but there I was, dancing in the foam. I made many trips to the dance floor, slowing getting my cloths very wet, including my only pair of shoes. Around 2:30 AM they began the wet tee shirt contest. I won't go into detail, since this is a family-friendly blog, plus my memory of this night is slightly blurry (darn free drinks!), but this was the decadence we were looking for. So after the contest, we caught a cab back to the hotel and next thing I knew it was morning and boy did my head hurt. Day 5 had no baseball, just alligators.

Spring Break 2005 - Day 3

Day 3 started off with Jon and Steve taking Mark to the airport at 5:30 AM as I slept. After eating our free breakfast, which was not very good for an Embassy Suits, we headed to our next destination, Vero Beach, to see the Red Sox play the Dodgers at Holman Stadium. Using our trusty map, we decided to take the Florida Turnpike. Somehow, we missed our turn and ended up having to drive the I95 South. Steve and I saw a small sign that read "Florida Turnpike", but it didn't say anything like, "Next Exit" or "3 Miles". Luckily, the I95 was not too busy. We had to go straight to the ballpark. Arriving after the first pitch, we found our seats, which were lawn seats. The park was packed, so we sat down in a semi-obstructed area. I managed to buy a Dodger Dog, my first one, and it was quite good. After two innings, we moved to the standing-room area behind home plate, where the view was much better. Even though this was the Dodger's stadium, most fans were cheering for the Red Sox. Way to jump on the bad wagon. As usual, we left before the end of the game and went to find our hotel. This hotel had just reopened after being repaired from the hurricane damage. There was evidence of hurricane throughout Florida, mostly damaged billboards and fallen trees. For dinner we ate a sports bar called Duffy's. We went back there for late-night happy hour but went to bed early since there was nothing to do in this town. There was a very spectacular lightening storm that night and lots of rain. The worst of the storm hit while were lost trying to find the restaurant. So much for Vero Beach. Day 4 begins our Ft. Lauderdale experience.

Spring Break 2005 - Day 2

Game 2 was easier to find. The St. Louis Cardinals @ Atlanta Braves played at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, not too far from our hotel. We didn't get lost finding this place, for once. Getting lost and taking wrong turns was the theme of our trip. We ended up exploring parts of Florida that we would not have normally seen had we turned right instead of left. Anyways, as you might expect, this park was the nicest of all the parks, since it was owned by Disney, a multi-billion dollar company. We had great seats right behind home plate in the fourth row. The day was much warmer that the previous day and the sun was shining brightly. We watched the game, ate some food and left after the 8th inning. This ballpark definitely had a Disney family-friendly feel. Between each inning, a very peppy woman brought some fan out, usually a kid, on top of the dug-outs and gave them a chance to win a prize, which they all did. Back at the hotel we took a short break and went to the free happy-hour that Embassy Suits offers. We had no plans for the night, so we decided to go back to Downtown Disney for dinner and more Pleasure Island. We ate at the House of Blues. Jon and I both got the jambalaya, which was very, very, very hot! It was way more food than I could eat, so I ate all the good stuff and left the rice. Jon took his leftovers in a doggy bag. Steve and Mark both had ribs which were also more than they could eat. With our passes from PI the night before, we got tickets for $5. It was raining so the crowds were much smaller. We went to some of the same clubs, but with the rain and small crowds, it just wasn't too fun. The band in the Beach Club was really bad. So we went back to the hotel since Mark had to fly home early in the morning. Day 3 takes us to the next city - Vero Beach.

Spring Break 2005 - Day 1

After sleeping for four hours and getting Mark (who flew the red-eye via Chicago) at the airport, we headed to our first baseball game - the Toronto Blue Jays @ Houston Astros in Kissimmee. Using the map provided by the rental car agency, we attempted to find Kissimee, Fl. What should have taken us 45 minutes took almost two hours thanks to wrong turns and general confusion on all our parts. However, we still made it to the park with time to spare. The park was nice but the game itself was uneventful. We left after the 7th inning so we could go back to the hotel and take a power-nap in anticipation for tonight fun. The big event of the night was Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney. First we ate dinner at the Bongo's Cuban Cafe, a restaurant co-owned by singer Gloria Estefan. I had eaten Cuban food in Key West before and liked it, so I thought this would be good too. I wasn't impressed with the fish dinner I had - I think the fish in Key West is fresher and the food more authentic since the restaurants there are owned by actual Cubans. However, the live music at Bongo's was enjoyable and we didn't have to wait 45 minutes for our seats since the upstairs bartender unexpectedly took us out of the line and seated us rather quickly at his bar.

Next stop, Pleasure Island. PI is a collection of themed clubs. You pay $22 to enter and then have access to all the clubs. The first club we entered, 8TRAX, played music from the 70's and 80's. We had a few drinks there, watched people danced and then moved on to the BET SoundStage Club. Jon couldn't stand the music so he went out for a smoke and Mark, Steve and I had a drink. The night was still young and not many people were dancing. So we left and ended up at Motions, where they played top 40 music. This club was not too interesting, so we went to Rock 'N Roll Beach Club. They had a live band playing classic rock. This band was really good. We were impressed that they played the music that they liked, which was not necessarily the popular rock songs. They played obscure songs by Pink Floyd and The Who, and played them well. The crowd was small but seemed to enjoy the music. After they finished their second set, we journeyed to Mannequins Dance Palace. This ended up being my favorite place. The dance floor was a large rotating disk. I never thought that dancing on a rotating floor could be so fun, but is was. There were interesting people there, including someone dressed up in a Tron outfit. If you don't know what Tron is then you are too young. After getting our fill of this place, we went back to the Beach House to hear the bands third set. The finished around 2:30 AM and it was time to go home. We went to sleep around 3:30 AM. I am calling this "Day 1", but all the days kind of blurred together. Stay tuned for Day 2.

Fun, Foam, and Fans in Florida

For the past ten years I have taken a trip to Phoenix, AZ to watch Spring training baseball with my friends. This year we decided to travel to Florida to see different teams and check out the Spring Break scene. We wanted to hang-out with the college students and pretend that we were 15 years younger. Steve, Jon and I spent six days there and Mark joined us for two days. The three of us flew round trip first class thanks to frequent flyer miles on American Airlines. I had never flown first class before, just business class once. First class on the planes we flew on, 757 and MD-80, was nice, but not as good as I had hoped. The seats are bigger than in coach, but not much more leg room, and there was no foot rests. The food was good on the first leg of the trip, but the on the leg from Dallas to Orlando all we got was a bag of peanuts, not even heated! Drinks, of course, were plentifully. We landed at 12:30 AM, got our rental car, drove to the hotel and checked in at 2 AM. Then we had to wake up at 9 AM to go to the airport to pick up Mark. This takes us to day 1. Read on to find out about the fun, foam and fans in Florida.

Spring Break 2005 - Everglades

I just got home from my Spring training/Spring break vacation in Florida. This trip was six fun filled days long, and I have fantastic pictures to show and riveting stories to tell. For now I'll start you off with this photo of Steve, Jon and I at Everglades Holiday Park. This is the picture that the tour guide takes before you get on the boat and then charges you for after the ride. Since it was a good photo and the tour was worth the price, I bought it. More about this adventure later.

Kermit the Frog Likes Beer Too

Kermit the Frog and I are enjoying a beer together after a productive but exhausting day of house cleaning. Kermit is really drunk as you can tell by the ways his eyes are bugging out. Oh wait, that's me!

Ionic Breeze Air Cleaner

I am looking to buy a better air cleaner, or two, for my house, since I suffer more and more from allergies. I was ready to buy an Ionic Breeze from Sharper Image until I started reading reviews. According to Consumer Reports, the Ionic Breeze is useless. They gave it the poorer rating in its ability to clean dust and smoke, and claim it only cleans an area of 2 sq. ft. (most room filters can clean 200 to 500) The author of an independent review I read on the internet said that the ozone created by the Ionic Breeze gave him sever headaches. According to Consumer Reports, the best air filter was the Friedrich C-90A followed by the Kenmore 83202. Yes, they do have filters that need to be replaced at a cost, but they also clean the air. So don't let that commercial for the Ionic Breeze that shows dust and smoke being pulled out the air fool you like it has too many people - don't buy one. I'll let you know what I end up buying and how I like it.

That's a lot of miles!

I keep getting coupons from Toyota that say:

"At 1,046,250 miles we recommend the following:"

Wow! I knew Toyotas lasted a long time, but over 1 million miles? How optimistic of them. If I drove 15,000 miles/year, it would take 66 years to drive that many miles. By 2066, I hope that we will all be using Star Trek like transporters and cars will be a relic of the past.

I'm Made in Korea?

Here is a well written article about how animation for The Simpsons is done in South Korea. Please don't let this news enrage your opinion about "out-sourcing" of American jobs to foreign countries. The way I see it, would you be willing to pay $10,000 for a new computer? That's what you'd have to pay if the computer and its parts were made in America - at least. Don't get me wrong, I support unions and well paying jobs, but I believe that the US also benefits when our citizens can afford cheap durable goods. It gives us more disposable income to be spent on fine dining and exotic vacations here in our own country. Do I know what I'm talking about? Perhaps. Just because I'm a computer programmer and not a economist doesn't mean I'm ignorant of other professions.

Darla and Spike Action Figures

The next series of Angel/Buffy figures is now available and I received mine this last week.

There are two figures I did not buy in this series: Grave Spike, because I didn't need a shirtless Spike, and Vampire Schoolgirl Darla, because this figure hasn't been released yet, and no one knows why.

Not pictured on this post: Season 2 Darla and Just Rewards Spike. It is hard to photograph the figures in becasue the plastic reflects the light and the camera tends to focus on the plastic and not the figure, making the photo blurry. That is why I shot some of the photos at odd angles.

Once again, I had to move some of my Simpons figures to a different place on my wall to make room for these new figures.

The next wave of Buffy/Angel figures will be Wesley (5 variations) and Lorne (3 variations).