Pyramid Resort 2005

This past weekend I made my annual trip to the Pyramid Resort in La Mision, Baja California. Last time I went it was cold and foggy the whole weekend, this year it was warm, sunny and froggy. We usually go on Labor Day when it seems half the population of San Diego is there. This weekend the local bars were dead. Also, we couldn't get any one to play Elvis Whiffle Ball with us, so we just practiced hitting. To entertain ourselves, we turned the game into "Dorf" Whiffle Ball. You had to be there to understand unless you remember the "Dorf on Golf" commercials. We are thinking of going back in three weeks when many people said they would be able to make the trip, but people always say they want to go, but don't. I have many more photos from the trip to post later, so stay tuned.

No More Worms or Ducks

I finally have something to do this weekend. I'm going down to Mexico! Hopefully the area where people don't get shot or kidnapped. This is our annual trek to the Pyramid Resort. As I sit in my hot house, more strange men are outside washing the walls in preparation for painting the building. They seem to paint every five years around here. I'd rather have them re-roof the building so the winter rain doesn't leak onto my nice new ceilings. If I don't leave my condo soon, I may be trapped by the spraying water, so off I am.

Picnic at Mission Bay

A rare company picnic. Food and drink for free!

I Found the Ducks

After seven years of living in this neighborhood, I finally found the "hidden" lake. All the signs were there. People walking with fishing poles, a blob of blue on a map and ducks crossing the street. I had never tried to find the lake before today, which was the goal of my evening bike ride. It took me about 15 minutes of following dead-end streets and climbing steep hills before I saw the unmarked path to the lake, which lies about 1000 feet from my home. Riding my bike down to the lake, I saw ducks swimming happily and a man fishing for dinner. Mystery solved.

House Back in Order

The painters came in force this morning. Four men arrived at 9:15 and they were finished by 1:30. My ceiling looks great. Better than I expected. It was worth the money and hassle. It took me the next three hours to put all my stuff back in its place and I feel much less out-of-wack.There is still work to be done: new entertainment center, putting unused furniture in the garage and installing a shelf in my computer room.

Waiting for the Worms

Tomorrow a painter is coming over to paint my ceiling. My house has been in disarray ever since I had my popcorn ceiling removed over a month ago. At the time I didn't realize that the process required two steps: removal and painting. It will be so nice to have this home improvement project finished. I can hang pictures back on the wall and redisplay my action figure collection. Now all I have to do is figure out what to do during the day, as I can not stay at home while the work is being done. I guess I'll go for a drive and listen to some more Pink Floyd.

Afternoon Beer

Yes, I do sometimes eat a meal without drinking a beer. Sometimes. It is just that no photos are taken on those occasions. We were celebrating my brother's (not pictured) birthday at Oggi's and I was the designated drinker.

Bald Ernie

Ernie is suddenly popular with the ladies. They like a bald head.

Starships Above

The Enterprise and Voyager flying high above at the entrance to Quark's. Next time I come here I will hopefully have more time to enjoy the entire Star Trek Experience. It seemed like a fun place for a Trekkie like me.

Reception Gift Opening

The newlyweds opening the cards and gifts that they told people not to get them. Don't they look cute? The reception was a blast that lasted long into the night. Everybody came out for this "small" wedding. I talked to people I hadn't seen in years.

Jayne and Mark's Wedding

I took this photo after the wedding. The 15 minute wedding was very nice.Quick and too the point. I'm happy for my friends and their new life together in Las Vegas. I also now I have someone to visit when I am in or passing through Vegas.

Drinking at Quark's

Here we are drinking a mini Warp Core Breach at Quark's. After we each ordered our first drink, we saw another table getting served this cool looking concoction, so we had to try it. You can't tell, but the there is steam rising from the "fish bowl". I tried a Mind Meld also, which didn't impress me. All their cocktails have clever Star Trek names. My favorite was the James Tea Kirk. I had to explain this to the others - they are non-believers. I had to drag them to this off-Strip hotel, but they all had a good time. No stay at Quark's would be complete without the Holy Rings of Betazed, our last food before the evening's wedding.

Smoking a Hookah

I didn't know what a hookah is, and I still don't, but this is a different way to smoke a cigar. We chose a mango flavored one, and unlike when you smoke a cigar the traditional way, with this contraption it is not as harsh (not that I smoke cigars too often).

Monte Carlo Pub & Brewery

Drinking a Silver State Stout at the brewery. I didn't try the other beers (except for a small sip of the Red and Wheat) so I can't tell you which one is best, but the Stout wasn't bad.

Vegas Weekend

Tomorrow I fly to Las Vegas for the weekend. One of my best friends (MG) is getting married at The Little Church of the West. It will be a fun weekend, despite the heat. I will bring my camera and take some pictures to post afterwards. Who knows what I will photograph.

Pre-Street Scene Beer

Here is a picture of me drinking Arrogant Bastard Ale at Trophy's before heading to the Street Scene.

Street Scene 2005 Review

Last night I attended Street Scene at the Q with my sister. We started the evening with a beer and dinner at Trophy's. It was a good thing that we drank two beers because those were the only beers that we would be drinking the whole night. We made the mistake of waiting to get our wrist bands and by then the lines for the wrist bands (which allow you entrance into the beer gardens) were so long that we weren't willing to wait one hour and possibly miss an entire act. On the positive side, we saved money and I didn't have to worry about driving home.

The first band we saw was Hot Hot Heat. I had heard a few of their songs on 91X and wanted to check them out. They played an energetic set, with a few slow (boring) songs thrown in. After that we made our way access the parking lot, which was quite and long walk that we made several times during the night (just ask my legs this morning!), and listened to Kasabian. I had never heard of them before (although I recognized one of their songs). They were the surprise band of the night. All their songs were good. Their singer obviously had some electronic effects added to his voice, but I kind of like that sound - reminds me of the bands of the 80s.

Flogging Molly is a must-see. When they start playing, people rush to the stage to join the always wild mosh pit. I describe their music as angry, intense Irish songs. They know how to energize the crowd, especially with their George Bush basing statement (leave politics off the stage, I say). After about 20 minutes we went to see Black Eyed Peas, who were either a no-show or started way late. Since they will be opening up for Gwen Stefani later this year, I will catch their act then (not that I am a really big fan). This allowed us more time with Flogging Molly before we ventured over to Garbage. Now I have all their albums, and love their music, but I does not translate well into a live show. Shirley Manson sounded remarkable as did her band, but they never got the crowd going, everybody just stood there listening.

The next set of shows were the headliners. We mistakenly missed most of Social Distortion's act while waiting for The White Stripes to play. After waiting for over 45 minutes, we listened to Social D, who were the loudest band there. They played one of their new songs, which was surprising good. Then we heard music coming from the next stage and rushed over to catch The White Stripes. With only two band members, their performance was not what I expected. After two songs we made our last stop to listen to a few songs by The Killers. Once again, I was not impressed. So we journeyed to the trolley to beat the rush and got back to the car rather quickly.

The good: more space, no pushing, quality bands.

The bad: no beer (due to long lines), late bands (due to traffic, I guess), fewer stages, less variety of music (no Zydeco, Ska, ...), younger crowd (I felt old).

Will I go next year? Probably not, unless they resolve issues mentioned above.

Bloggers Help Missing Woman

Someone must have read my post about all the media attention that is given to missing rich, white women. When I read an article about a pregnant woman that had been missing for nine days, I thought, "She must not be a rich, white woman or her face would have been all over the news eight days ago." Sure enough, I was right. She is black and Hispanic. This article in the USA Today discusses how bloggers were partly responsible for getting this woman some media coverage. After all, we all know that Natalee Holloway won't be found alive, so lets try to find someone who might still be.

Summer Vacation 2005

Keith's summer vacation 2005: This year I planned my summer vacation around my annual trip to Lake Tahoe, once again. I had originally planned to drive to Utah first, but those plans fell through thanks to poor planning on my part. Instead, I spent my first day driving to Bishop, CA. Pictured here is a sign I saw as I took my first bike ride of the trip. 3205 miles is a long way to ride, so I think next time I will fly. A little web research found this information about this very long highway. It took me about eight hours to drive to Bishop, so I was ready for some exercise. Besides, there wasn't much to do in this town. After my ride, I ate dinner at Whisky Creak, a restaurant within walking distance of my hotel. They had a selection Mammoth Brewing Company beers, of which I tried and enjoyed all four, especailly the Double Nut Brown.

The next day I headed north to Mammoth Lakes. Since this drive was so short, I took the long way there. I headed up Highway 6 to a town called Benton. From there I took a turn to the west where I saw a sign saying "No services next 47 miles". I looked at my gas gauge at it was close to empty! So a quick U-turn I made and filled my tank up with gas at $2.79/gal.The drive across the mountains was very scenic. There was no one else on this road. I rolled down my widows so I could smell the clean, crisp mountain air. It didn't take long for me to reach the 395 and then Mammoth, where I arrived before hotel check-in time.

My first destination was the Inyo Craters. I had been here once before during the winter, where my friend and I hike through the deep snow to get there. This time I was able to drive to the trailhead and take a short hike. I extended my hike as much as I could, walking around these interesting holes in the ground. From there I ended up driving to some lakes above Mammoth. Pictured here is Lake Mary (I think). I took a short hike and snapped a few photos. I would have like to taken a longer hike, but since I was by myself and didn't have any maps and not enough food, I didn't walk far. I drove back down to Twin Lakes where I hiked by some campsites to the base of a waterfall. This looks like a great place to camp, despite the threat of bears.

By now I could check in to my hotel. I got there by early afternoon and after a short break I hopped on my bike and went for a little ride. After about 45 minutes I was done. At 8000 ft., this was the highest elevation I had ever ridden. After another break, I ate a steak dinner a local restaurant and then turned in for the night.

The next morning I concluded my Mammoth stay with a trip to Devils Postpile. I took the shuttle as required and was lucky to have a bus drive that was very knowledgeable about the history of the national monument. She gave us a very interesting overview during the drive down into the valley. The hike from the ranger station to Devils Postpile was very short. All of a sudden I was there! Because of the position of the sun, it was hard to find the best angle to take a good photo of this strange formation of rocks. After a short hike to the river below and then to the top of the Postpile, I headed on to Rainbow Falls. It always amazes me the number of people that are ill prepared for hiking. They have no water and are wearing sandals! I had two bottles of water and good hiking boots.

The hike to Rainbow falls wasn't that difficult, but the sun was very intense, and the last 1/2 mile of the trail was an area devastated by a wildfire a few years ago, so there was no shade. Rainbow Falls was one of the best waterfalls I have ever seen. A steep hike to the base of the falls provided relief in the form of a heavy mist. A few photos and movies later, I began my trek back to the shuttle stop for the ride back to my car.

The drive to Lake Tahoe went by quickly. I arrived at the house by 5 PM, before most of the others, who had driven up to participate in a softball tournament. I come just to watch, since I don't play softball. The weekend tournament started off with a loss, but after three wins, the team made to Sunday. The morning game didn't go so well, and after a valiant effort by the players, they lost their second and final game - time to party! After all, we are at Lake Tahoe.

The rest of the week we did the usual: bike ride, hike and boat ride on the lake. The hike this year was a repeat of years before, but with more people. There was about 16 of us on the hike, kids and adults (I'm not sure which one I am). It was the children leading the group, anxious to reach our destination: Eagle Lake. Once there, we relaxed. The kids took off their shoes and waded in the water. I walked around taking photos.

Our bike ride was fun as usual, but with two flat tires and one wipe-out. The boat ride on the lake was enjoyable. I opted not to ride the inner-tube for fear of dislocating my shoulder like last years disaster. I did however swim to the island in Emerald Bay and jump off a rock with the kids. It was funny. After swimming back to the boat, the rock looked much smaller and shorter than it did when I was standing on the top about to jump in the cold waters.

After a few nights of beer drinking and poker games, I needed to drive home a day early so I could attend the Comic-Com (see posts below). The drive took eleven hours, and due to lack of sleep, I was lucky I didn't close my eyes and drive off the road! The desert was extremely hot, but my car's A/C saved me. Once again, another fun trip to Lake Tahoe.

Strange Summer Weather

I woke up last night around 3:30 AM to the distant sound of rumbling thunder. Looking out my bedroom window, which faces the east, I saw the brilliant flashes of lightening illuminating the sky. Some of the bolts of lightening branched out in a web-like pattern, producing a wonderful natural light show. Because it was so hot, I had my window and blinds open which made the thunder much louder. As the hour ticked on, the storm got closer until I heard a strange sound - rain! It actually rained for about an hour, and I continued to hear thunder until almost 6 AM. Summer thundershowers are not unheard of here, but still very rare. Apparently this storm is being driven my the remnants of Hurricane Emily, which formed in the Caribbean and moved west over Mexico. The best part of this storm is that the cloud cover has cooled the air and now my house is around 74 degrees (yesterday it was almost 90 inside).

Another Rainbow Falls Movie

Click on the picture above to see Rainbow Falls in action (warning: larger file to download). When I hiked to the base of the waterfall the mist it produced felt so good in the noontime heat. A lady there told me that when she was here a few years ago this waterfall was far less spectacular.

Rainbow Falls in Action

Click on the picture above to see where Rainbow Falls got its name. I arrived at the best time of the day to get this movie.

Autograph from Clare Kramer

Here is a scan of the autograph I got from the Buffy actress.

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).