Damaged Mustang

It doesn't look bad, but the whole rear fender is damaged, plus the license plate is bent. Why do people not pay attention while driving? This is the third time I've been rear-ended, and once again it was not my fault and there was no way to avoid the accident unless I had just stayed home from work. I'm probably going to the chiropractor tomorrow. My back hurts even though it was a 5 MPH crash.

Edit: My doctor say I have mild whiplash. Estimate for repair is $1200!

Edit Again: More hidden damage. Now the estimate is $2000. They should have it fixed by the 10th. The insurance company of the man who hit me has accepted 100% responsibility.

Bailout and Stock Market

So I guess I lost more money today. I don't understand the stock market. We have "experts" saying we need this $700 billion dollar bailout and others saying we don't. Everybody I talked to agrees with me that the bailout is unnecessary and a bad idea. So who are all these people who are selling stocks and causing my savings to dwindle? Luckily, I have time on my side, since my target retirement date is close to 2030, assuming the Earth is still around.

Fresno State and UCLA

Another game another loss. As you can see by all the red in the stands, there were numerous Fresno State fans at the Rose Bowl. Not only were they loud, but they were very obnoxious, which would explain all the fights that broke out after the game in our section. As we are walking down to the exit I see a man dressed in red falling down the seats with blood dripping out of his nose and a cut below his eye. He tried to go back up to get hit some more, but some people stopped him. Not much security at the Rose Bowl. Now I know why they don't sell alcohol at the stadium.

Good Old No. 7 Brand

I'm celebrating a good day off work with a shot of Jack Daniel's and a Gordon Biersch Octoberfest beer. The bottle of Jack was sealed nicely with shrink-wrap plastic and tasted as good as always. The beer tasted the same as any other Octoberfest brews. I think the presidential debate starts soon, but I have no real interest in watching it. I think I have decided to vote for a third-party candidate such as Ralph Nader.

Time for some Fun

I now have all my planned weekend tasks completed. My Mustang had some factory recall work done on the airbag, my hair is very short and I shipped my broken Dell monitor. Tomorrow is another UCLA game at the Rose Bowl. I missed last weeks game so I'm looking forwards to a nice sunny Saturday of tailgating and hope the Bruins finally win again.

"New" Dell Monitor Arrived

I went to the DHL office to pick up my replacement Dell 24 inch LCD monitor. It said "refurbished" on the box, and I can tell by the revision number, A00 instead of A02, that it is an older model, however, the power button works and the picture quality looks just as good as before. Now I need to return my broken monitor within 48 hours before Dell starts harassing me. I have that tasked planned for Friday, as well as getting warranty work done on my Mustang, a haircut and a trip to Costco.

Peakbagger

I registered with a hiking site called Peakbagger. I have entered just three peaks, but one, San Jacinto, was not on their list. You can find me by searching for my name. I still need to enter some data on each climb, but it is a start.

Dell Monitor Update

I got a call from Dell today telling me that DHL attempted to deliver my new monitor to my house this morning but I wasn't at home. Well, yeah, I was at work. The man who called seemed very concerned and wanted me to call him back and call DHL. I did both and will now pick up the monitor at the DHL headquarters in San Diego tomorrow. If the monitor works, I will need to ship back my broken one and all should be good. Then, I will not use the power button to turn the monitor off. I'll just set the computer up to have the screen power saver come on after 1o minutes of non-use, which is what I should have done before. So much for trying to save electricity.

Dell 24 Inch LCD Monitor Broken

Well, after less than two year, my Dell 2407FPW Monitor stopped working, or at least the power button did, which makes the monitor useless if you can't turn it on. So today I finally got brave enough to call the Dell support phone number. Yes, it was as bad as they say, talking to someone in India who speaks broken English. I was able to understand them, but it took a while for them to understand my problem. It seems they deal mostly with people who buy Dell computer systems, not just a single monitor. After talking to three people, and being put on hold numerous times, I got a "Dispatch" and "Case" number. I still wasn't clear what that meant until I received an e-mail with all the information in it. I guess they will send me a new monitor and I will return my old one in the same box. Also, someone will call me in 3 days, but I'm not sure who or why. I must say, that the people I talked to were very nice, and said things like "I understand you are having a problem and might be frustrated, but I will do the best I can to help you.". Before I could hang up, they wanted me to talk to a supervisor, making it four people I had to deal with in the 30 minute phone call. So stay tuned to see what happens. If you search the Internet for "Dell Hell", you will find endless horror stories about Dell that drag on for months and include harassing phone calls from Dell finance. I knew it was a mistake buying a Dell, but there were no other companies that were selling 24 inch LCDs at a reasonable price.

Good Weather at Last

I'm back home from my trip and this time the weather cooperated. The only delay was today leaving Miami due to a broken part on the engine. They fixed it, after one hour of sitting the plane, and then we arrived in LA after my connecting flight departed. So I got on the next flight to San Diego and I am now home.

The big event this weekend in Key West is the Poker Run, which attracts bikers from all over, or at least from Florida. This event is why the hotel rates doubled on Friday night. All evening and night long, you could hear the sound of Harleys cruising down the streets. We walked along Duval Street to check-out the bikes, as well as people dressed as pirates, which was also the theme of the weekend.

Drug sub.

This is a captured home-made submarine. This is what the drug smugglers are now using to get drugs from South America into the US. It has holes cut in the side so you can see what is inside. Looks like enough room for one person and lots of "cargo".



Just saw this article at cnn.com about these subs.

Third Try

I'm gearing up for my third attempt to travel to Key West. At most, there are two "tropical disturbances" with "low potential" to form into a hurricane. I started feeling sick yesterday and had to take time off work. My only plan this weekend is to get a book to read on the trip. Are you available for a book exchange, Karen?

40th for the Woodman

My friend had a small party last night at his house celebrating his 40th birthday. It was a small gathering with beer and food, the baked ziti prepared by his girlfriend being the main course.

This morning I woke up not feeling well (I shouldn't have smoked that cigar!) and spent the whole day watching football and baseball. I had to leave the house and go to the gym after the Chargers lost to work off my frustration and disappointment in how they played, plus I was feeling very lazy.

Now it is back to work, instead of Florida, where it looks like Ike will be missing Key West and hitting Cuba instead.

Sleepy Day

I took today off work because I was expecting to work next Friday. I wish I had gone into work because I had nothing to do today. I slept for 10 hours last night, woke up, ate breakfast, changed my travel plans, fell asleep for one hour, ate lunch, watched TV, fell asleep again, went to the store and now I'm blogging. Tomorrow is my friend's 40th birthday and his girlfriend has something planned for him, so that will be far more exciting than today. Speaking of blogs, I heard some radio DJ ranting about how boring and useless blogs are. He couldn't understand why anyone would want to read someone else's blog. He must not have any friends, family or interests in life in general.

Hurricane Ike

It is happening again, bad timing with a major hurricane headed towards my destination. Currently Ike is projected to be near Florida next Tuesday. There are five of us traveling there next week and we will decide by tomorrow if we will postpone the trip once again. I'm not going to work so I'll be waiting for a call.


Well, it is official, the trip has been postponed. Now I have changed my trip the following week to Virginia to go to Key West for two days and then fly home on Saturday, which sucks because I'll miss the Arizona at UCLA game. But who knows, that trip could be interrupted by yet another storm.

A Few More UCLA Tailgate Photos

Everyone wants their photo taken with the Rose Bowl in the background.



There must have been some controversy over this play. They both look perplexed.



I'm not sure what the results of this throw was, but Liz must have put the bag in the hole for three points and Steve (Yoda!?) can't believe it!

Cornhole at the Rose Bowl

Cornhole is always a hit with people of all ages. We had lots of people walking buy looking interested in our activity, but we also saw several other tailgaters playing the same game, or some variation of it.

Note: If you click on the video image during play, the movie will play in a new window, or tab, and you can click "Watch in high quality", but don't forget to pause the first playing of the video, or you will have the movie playing twice.

Tennessee at UCLA 2008

Even though the game started at 5 PM, we left San Diego at 9 AM and made it to the Rose Bowl by 11. Along the way we met up with five more people making our group 14 UCLA fans strong! For the first time we parked in the famous Lot H, which is on the south side of the Rose Bowl and closest to the entrance and our seats. You would think that six hours was a long time to tailgate before a big game, but time went by very quick. We played cornhole and other games, BBQ'd meet and chicken, and drank cool beverages.

It was a perfect day, other than been a little hot, right up to sunset at 7:30, when it finally began to cool off. That was about the time the Bruins turned on the heat and scored some points. With 35 seconds left, they got the lead by 3 points, but Tennessee drove down the field and scored a field goal with no time left on the clock.

Overtime it was and so were our chances of getting home before midnight. Luckily, UCLA scored a field goal and then Tennessee missed their attempt, giving UCLA the win. 68,000+ fans all yelling at the end of game made for an exciting ending. We actually got out of the parking lot quick and made it home before midnight. A fun-filled day for everyone.