Recently in Friends Category

This past weekend, I returned to Northern California to visit some friends. The primary reason for the trip was to go to Peggy's Christmas Party and see all of my UCD Co-workers. I was sort of a surprise guest and it was super-nice to catch up with everyone. I ended up staying until the bitter end with Brad and his wife, and the four of us learned a valuable way to get rid of the hiccups (stick a knife in a tall glass and let the handle of the knife hit your forehead as you drink - apparently it helps adjust your throat in a particular way that aids in the restoration of normal diaphragm function).

With my new digicam, I took just a few pictures of campus. The first one was of my namesake lake on the west side of campus and another was the former site of my work. They tore down the old HA2 building that I worked in back in the 90's. it was the old foreman's college and along with central receiving and a few other temp buildings, were tore down this year to make way for a new Physics-Geology expansion.

I also managed to visit Coder in his new home of Rohnert Park. It was great to see what he has been up to as well as enjoy the scenic drive between Santa Rosa and Davis via the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. It was so clear and crisp out when I was driving, it made me want to move back to Northern California ASAP.

Sunday on my way home, I enjoyed a nice breakfast at Cafe Bernardo in Sacramento with Matt and Steve. It was my first time being to this Bernardo, and despite being uber-popular (20-30 min wait for food - but at least they were up front with it) had a great time. Matt keeps trying to convince me that he is not racing to 100 countries, but I don't know he seems pretty keen on hitting some good ones soon. On the way back to their place, we stopped in an open house. It is so hard for me to believe that 3 bedroom 1 bath homes in Land Park are going for 600K. My goodness I remember them being so cheap! The house we walked through had a super neat guest cottage in the back with a pool, but I still like Matt and Steve's house better.

Another funny note: I did a lot of driving this weekend but enjoyed every moment of it. I just wish I received BBC Radio 1 and I would have felt like I was back in Scotland.

Overall, it was a great weekend. I need to upload the photos to Flickr so you can all see how great the new camera is.

This trip is driving me crazy!

The other day I practically had a nervous breakdown with trying to find a place to stay in Paris. Every place that I looked at was missing a day in the block of time that I am going to be staying there. I finally decided to stay at a hotel Mom, Gary, and I stayed at 10 years ago! Apparently it has changed hands and has been completely made over so it will be nice to see it for the first time again. I love staying in the Rue Cler district of Paris (that is the 7th) for those of you keeping score of the Paris districts). Jonathan will be visiting us in Paris, but will be staying elsewhere. I wanted to get this groovy apartment that we found on a web site, but in the end it proved too expensive and you have to pay in advance. It was over 1400 bucks for 7 nights - no thanks to the lousy mileage the dollar is getting vs the euro.

At any rate, I am looking forward to our time in Paris - I will get to reconnect with some friends I made from Disneyland Paris when they were visiting California as well as getting to see Jonathan for the first time since 2004 in Japan. As an added bonus, I found out they have tickets to the new Most Haunted Live special that will be airing in the UK over the 5 nights we will be in London and in Cardiff. Hopefully, we will get selected for tickets to the show. It is one of the things that Daniel and I wanted to do while we were overseas.

Added to everything else, it is my birthday next week and I am actually celebrating this year! It is not the fancy parties of a decade ago, but it will be a nice dinner at the Magic Castle in Hollywood thanks to my friend Lev. I do wish Susie, Mark, Alex, Matt, Wendy/Mice,.Cooper, Kibble, Nathan, and Jonathan were around locally so they could be part of the fun. I miss the good old days when we were all in the same area.

Completely unrelated - I have signed up for the USGS Earthquake Notification Service. I know it is super geeky, but I love the fact you can set what magnitude quake will result in a text message to my cell phone. I can also get a HTML email, but I like getting the text messages. I have it set for 4.0 for the US and 6.0 for the World. It seems to be the right balance so I get interesting quakes and yet do not exceed my texting allowance for the month.

This past week we were all jolted by the news that Doug from work passed away from a long battle with Cancer. I worked with him for a few years at my Dad's shop and had many occasion to talk with him then and of course growing up. Doug worked with my Dad for over 30 years and was practically a member of the family. His oldest son is the same age as Sarah and so they were often visitors to my Dad's house growing up. Doug never had it easy - there was always something going on at home or in his life. No matter how bad he was feeling (especially when the cancer first started) or whatever was going on, he would always pause and ask how things were going in my life and the ever popular what's new at Disneyland question.

I had the honor of being a pallbearer this weekend for Doug along with my brothers. It was my second time being a pallbearer as well as the second time seeing a dead body in a casket. To be honest, it is a bit creepy - nothing what it is like in the movies - especially when its someone you knew so well. As I sit here I am looking at the picture of Doug from the funeral service and I remember the image of his body in the casket and it is hard to believe that is the same person.

Doug - we will miss you. I'm glad you will be able to spend time with Andrew.

This week has been a rough one on the body. On Monday I was hit in the head, but thanks to my hard head I was just a bit stunned - no serious after effects. Today, I managed to run full speed into something and it caught my cheek and knocked my glasses off. I will need to get my eyes checked to see if I need a new prescription since the lenses are now scratched. In the old days, I could just get new glasses, but now I need to get an eye exam (see rant from lost glasses a few years ago).

I finally got the phone issue resolved - I now have a Motorola Q. Tim has had one for awhile now so I was able to hear about all the pros and cons. So far I am loving it - even though it has taken Daniel to figure out some of the features. I love the fact I can now sync my email with it - and it pulls from my POP3 accounts wirelessly. I wish I could link my work email to it, but alas I guess I will just have to wait until I get promoted to Blackberry level.

In other news I heard from Cooper for the first time in ages. It was great to catch up and I am glad he and the family are doing well. Talking to him made me realize just how far apart we have all become in the last 5-10 years. I think we need to organize a Davis reunion and get everyone together again - including all the offspring that have cropped up. It is scary to realize that my friends have a combined 9 kids with more on the way!!!

This past weekend, Tiffany, Daniel and I headed out for another trip to the Red Carpet. One of these years, we will get our act together and enter the raffle to get seats at the actual red carpet ceremony, but in the meantime we have to settle with visiting it the night before. Two years ago, we actually got to walk down the red carpet, but this year security was either tighter or our timing was off as we were only allowed to get next to the carpet. We still posed for some photos, but they are in Daniel's camera so it will take a few days to get them posted online.

On the actual day of the awards, Daniel and I headed over to Mandel's house to watch the awards as well as the Amazing Race. It was nice to watch them in true HD and we had a great time with the pause button as we caught various celebs and misc others in the audience doing dumb things or making crazy faces. There were lots of people at the party and we had a pool to see who could get the most winners correct. I must admit that I am way off my game (compared to years ago when I would actually post them on the site). Several people got 15 of the nominees correct!

We stuck around and watched the latest installment of The Amazing Race: All Stars which has been awesome so far. the first two teams that were eliminated were ones that I didn't really think should have been there - I like Kevin and Drew, but they just didnt seem ready - maybe Drew should have let Kevin pair up with someone from another team (maybe with either Gary or Dave from season 2).

I went into the breakroom at work today and Fox News was having a discussion on whether the whole "Global Warming" thing was a sham since there was a record breaking freeze in the mid section of the country. Sadly, Fox News apparently has not heard of a warm spell in Southern California. It is the middle of Winter and I am beginning to think that the poles really are shifting...

Today's Weather Highlights:
Embarrass, MN -42 Degrees F
Grand Forks, ND -30 Degrees F
State College, PA (Chaos) 4 Degrees F
Chicago, IL (Kris) 11 Degrees F
New York, NY (Nathan) 19 Degrees F
Geneva, Switzerland (Jonathan) 46 Degrees F
Sacramento, CA (Matt) 66 Degrees F
Club Josh Resort, CA 82 Degrees F
Brisbane, Australia (Chris) 86 Degrees F

It is interesting that my weather is more like Brisbane than Sacramento...

I finally had a chance to play the new Nintendo Wii. I now understand why it is outselling the PS3 - and it is not just the price. Never have I seen a gaming system that is so easy to use. I picked it up right away and we all had a blast playing the Wii Sports program. I actually worked up quite a sweat and now understand why people have been saying that they can lose weight by playing Wii Sports for 30 minutes a day.

This system is not about the graphics and it shows. I am sure some of the other games will look nice and combined with a classic style controller you will be able to play the more traditional games. I like the fact that for some driving games you hook the Wii Remote into a steering wheel and just drive with it.

If the PS 3 was less money I probably would select it - primarily for the graphics as well as the Blue Ray player. However, if I was just looking for a fun game system, the Wii would be my choice. I am waiting for the eventual Wii-DS linked game that is played on the Wii and you can join in with your DS unit. Perhaps broadcast to the neighborhood kids?

Daniel suggested a Most Haunted Wii game where you use the Wii Remote like the night vision camera on the series and try and find ghosts and poltergeist activity. Yvette/Karl are you listening?

I have never been to the Deep South save for a few trips to Walt Disney World. That will all change in November as I attend Mark and Jen's wedding in beautiful Mobile, Alabama the week before Thanksgiving. I guess it will be sort of a mini vacation for me since it will be the only travel I will get to do for the rest of the year save for the occasional trip to Arizona to see the relatives.

Being the Geography nerd that I am, one of the things I want to do is drive to Mississippi a mere 40 minute drive away. This will give me 28 US states visited and that much closer to the elusive 50 goal. If I was really bored or had an extra day, I might try and drive to Georgia. Given that it is at least 100 miles to the nearest border, I will just wait for a chance to visit properly at some other time. I had toyed with flying into Atlanta and then to Mobile - just to visit the state, but it was way cheaper to go via Dallas.

Mark was one of the last holdouts of my friends to get married. I am sure he will have kids at some point as well to join the ranks of my friends with kids. Now it is between me and Holmberg to see who gets hitched first. I think it is even odds for both of us.

This weekend was a rare conjunction. Most of my friends were out of town and I had the weekend off. This is the first time in over a year that I have not been on vacation and have had an entire weekend to myself. I decided last week that I should contact my friend Mandel and try and hang out. I met Mandel many years ago (I was still working at Edmunds so that is at least 5 years now) and we have kept in touch now and then. I see him at the park with his friends and he invites me to these crazy parties that he and his friends throw. I have great memories of the Weakest Link part as well as the Match Game party.

As it turns out, Mandel was attending a birthday party for some people he knows through the TV Show he produces - Reality Remix. While talking to him on the phone he asks me if I watch "The Amazing Race". I responded with my, "It's only the best show on television, of course I do." He asked if I had been watching awhile to which I responded - since Episode 1 Season 1. It turns out that he was attending a birthday party for Lynn of Lynn and Alex fame from TAR Season 7. (For those of you in a fog - this was the season that Rob and Amber from Survivor were competing on the Race)

I met up with Mandel and after some dinner and a few classic episodes of "Starcade" - you know you remember the TBS game show from the 80's - we headed out to West Hollywood. Thanks to some parking karma, we found a great spot right out in front of the place we needed to go. It turns out that a friend of Lynn and Alex was holding the party. I was a bit worried since I didn't know anyone other than Mandel and he reassured me he only knew Lynn and Alex and the lady hosting the party (sorry short term memory I can't remember her name). As we walked up, I was introduced to Lynn and Alex and they mentioned BJ was there. My mind raced and I remembered that he was Mandel's friend who won TAR 9.

At any rate I ended up talking with the racers who were all fun and very down to earth people. I am not sure what I expected, but I liked the fact that despite the fact these people were on my favorite show they were just normal people. The people you saw on the show really were them. As the night progressed there were some strange events that transpired:

1. Some old drag queen with one tooth sporting a Cher wig who kept talking to the dogs
2. A very tired looking stripper performing for the birthday boy (sorry Alex, I know he was third tier)
3. Lynn offered me a beer and I drank most of it (shocking since I hate beer, but love being polite)
4. Excellent Chocolate cake from Costco
5. Mandel liked the Sears portraits with the ghost profile of the subject above the main photo - he wants his myspace photo to look like that.
6. Karaoke!

All in all it is one of the better times I have had at a party - lots of good people and good food. I think when #35 rolls around next year I want something like this. Of course 34 is just around the corner and as far as I know I'm going to dinner with friends and family - equally good, but there is something about having a party that brings out the weirdness in some people.

the loneliest bus stop
Originally uploaded by Kris Cohen.

A shot of Kris on a recent vacation to Boulder, CO. I think its very arty and would make a perfect photo to see if the Flickr post to Club Josh is back up and running.

For the first time in at least 5 years, I have returned to Sacramento. It was a melancholy experience. I was coming to the area to attend the internment service for my grandfather's ashes as well as a reception for all of my grandparent's friends from Paradise. But on the other hand, I was excited to see my old stomping grounds and some of my friends from Davis.

I arrived in Sacramento last night and the first thing that struck me was the new parking structure outside Terminal A. When I was living here, Terminal A had just open and there was a huge surface lot that you could usually park near the front and then get on a plane without any trouble. Driving to my hotel, I also saw how much the area around Natomas had sprung up with homes.

This morning, I got up early to meet my old boss and friend Reed for breakfast. After a quick bite to eat it was off to UC Davis to see my old co-workers and to see various new buildings and items of interest on campus. I had a great time seeing the gang again. It made me think back to those years working on the map book and all the other projects around campus. I also thought about how I was coming full circle at Disneyland since I am working in a capacity on a construction project. At that moment I really missed life in Davis - how you could drive out of town in 5 minutes and be in the middle of fields. Driving around with Reed I was also amazed at all the new developments on campus. It was nice to see that today's UCD students get so much more than what I got when I was there, but it still retained a lot of its charm.

We stopped into the bookstore on campus to see if there were any souvenirs that I might take home, but I opted to pass them up. It was time to say goodbye as I was off to the airport to pick up a family friend to head up to Paradise. We chatted all the way up and it didn't really seem like an almost 2 hour drive.

Arriving in Paradise, we had just a short time before we headed up to the cemetery for the internment ceremony. It has been 2 months since he passed away, but it was nice to see him finally be put to rest in one of his favorite places. They put his ashes into a marble wall made up of little alcoves that are covered up and sealed. We had a small service that I thought was perfect, despite the 100+ degree heat. After all was said and he was sealed up in the wall, I said my final goodbyes. Tomorrow we have a reception with 40-50 people in a park where we will all gather and toast him one final time.

Afterwards, we chilled in the hotel lounge and then had a fine Mexican dinner at one of my grandparent's favorite places in Paradise. Dessert was Foster Freeze and after some more chatting in the lobby it was finally time to go to bed.

After tomorrow's remembrance, I will head back to Sacramento to see another one of my friends who I haven't seen in over 2 years - Matt. I am not sure if I am going to go down the hill tomorrow night or if I will just stay the night and then return on Sunday. I have decided that I will try and stop by all my old houses (4 in Davis, 1 in Chico) and take some photos since I don't have any. By the time I go back to So Cal on Sunday, I will be pooped!

Saturday, when I came back from lunch, I noticed that there was a notice on Coder's Mustang that it was going to be towed. This is the car that was in the accident and has been sitting idle in the lot at the complex waiting for it to be taken away. I had been on Coder for a while to take care of it, and with his departure to Kansas for a few weeks it had to be taken care of soon. The tow sticker on the car forced the issue and we had to take action.

Granted it was 5pm on a Saturday night so our options were limited. We finally got someone on the phone that would come and tow the car away. At first they offered $600 but then after finding how many miles were on it, they dropped it down to $400. An hour later a tow truck showed up and the guy looked the car over and said there was no way he could pay over $200 for it. We knew the guy was BS'ing us and after Coder's blood started to boil the guy finally left without the car. By then we were on Plan B which was to jump start the car and wash it so at least it looked presentable and I'd move the car over the two weeks so that the apartment complex wouldn't tow it.

We attempted to jump the car with the roadside kit that Tara bought me for Christmas, but the jumper cables promptly fried and the car wouldn't start. So we then called AAA to have someone come and jump the car. I then suggested to Coder that he should just ask the tow truck driver if he knew of a place where he could dispose of the car or better yet would he just take the car and do whatever he wanted to it. The driver showed up and jumped the car and then Coder decided to ask if he's take it.

The driver was hesitant, but agreed to take it. After he got some Gatorade, he even offered to come back and give us $100 for the car. So he left and returned a few hours later to take the car and said he'd come back with the money. Coder really didn't care if he ever saw the money, but we said OK.

So Coder took off for Kansas today and there is still no sign of the $100. The guy called once and I missed the call. I attempted to call his place a few times, but never got a hold of him. I will check later in the week. This whole experience just cements Coder in the Chaos hall of fame. Susie would be proud of him.

It has been an interesting month to say the least. I have been reluctant to post to the site since it actually still exists in two different locations, but I can't hold it in any longer.

In the home front, I have someone residing on my couch for the first time since Susie crashed back in the mid-90's. So far things are going well, and it is a temporary thing for the summer and then we can decide to get a place together or if he decides to move on. So far things have been going smoothly since we have different schedules and also we get along well. Check in again later this summer and see if things are still going well.

Last week I went to my first concert in several years. I had wanted to go see the Madonna tour when tickets went on sale, but I just couldn't get over the hump. The week before the concert I really started to hear good things about it and decided to go. The only problem was that I didn't want to go by myself, so I actively recruited people to go with me. I finally ended up convincing Daniel and Tyger to go and we all had a blast. The show was great – only two songs that I didn't care for and the rest were all amazing.

I was particularly impressed with was the quality of the video screens used in the show. I can't believe how hi-res the images were. We've come a long way since the first Jumbotron. I also love the fact that Madonna sings her heart out and that it isn't always perfect. The Forum was a smaller arena than Staples Center and it added more intimacy to the setting (if one can have an intimate setting with 16,000 screaming fans). All in all a great show!

Also many people have been asking, but yes I will be commanding a fleet sometime next year and I am very excitedly looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead in the next 12 months. Not that I don't want to live in the moment, but my brain is already thinking about my future beyond the next year and I am trying to figure out what I want to do and where I want to go. I just keep reminding myself to stay focused on the task at hand and then everything will work itself out.

That's about it for me. I did see some movies recently so I will post a few reviews.

Before I left for Australia, I had done my taxes on the free Turbo Tax site. This is the first time in 7 years that I can fill out the 1040EZ since I did no business with SeaGranite last year. I had a number in my head for how much I owed on the taxes and when I logged in today to finish them up, I realized it was only half of what I owe. Gadzooks! I need to figure out a way to change my W2s so that this doesn't happen every year.

So now I have the debt of the trip plus the debt of taxes hanging over my head. Oh, and let's not forget the fact my car lease is up next month. Personally, I can't believe I have been driving the CR-V for four years, but I guess time flies when you have a mostly trouble-free car. The worst part is that I don't know what I am going to do. I had planned to trade it in and get something else, but there really is nothing out there that excites me other than cars I can't afford. I'd love to get a hybrid (and no not so I can be smug) but at the same time, I love driving the CR-V. So I might just end up refinancing the balance of the payments and then waiting until something that catches my eye comes out. (Editor's note: As I was in the process of writing this, the American Honda folks called and wanted to know what I wanted to do with my car, they offered to extend my lease up to 24 months! It is on a month-to-month basis so it gives me plenty of time to find something else and wait for all the new cool things that are coming out in the fall! Gloom factor reduced!)

If that is not enough, I am still in limbo over my future plans at work. Next week is a big week, but my senses are telling me it might be another week before all is said and done and I know what the heck I will be doing in the near future. I hate the uncertainty of all of it. Of course, I should know better since I just returned from vacation. I must say, the longer the vacation, the more dramatic a shift in my life happens. The past month has been HUGE. It does feel like 2003 all over again (eww!) but I think I am stronger person inside and I just have to stay focused.

All is not doom and gloom in the world of Club Josh. There are three people that have really been guiding lights and have made the last month bearable. Chris, Coder, and Sean have all provided support when I needed it. Sean has been a busy bee, but has offered what little time he's had to chat and provide advice. Coder, well, we just call him the Columbus of Curacao now and he really doesn't like Mr. Romanaov at all. Finally, there has been Chris. My beacon from Brisbane who makes me laugh and gets me out of the deepest funk. It is rare that I actually make new friends and to have three this year is just amazing.

Speaking of friends, I really miss my out of town friends. I yearn for the good old days when we all lived close and could drive over to each other’s house and have a lazy day or a party to remember. At least we are all in the same country now. We have to figure out a way to all get together again. Mark is getting married in November and I think that might be the best opportunity yet.

No, the Gorn and Susie didn't get married, but Susie did marry Chuck last week. The wedding was a wonderful mix of relaxed attitudes and the usual wedding formality making it a unique affair. I posted some photos on Flickr which I must say was super easy!

Click here for the complete Wedding Album


Congrats to both the bride and groom!

So the moment I have dreaded since last September finally arrived today. It was off to Jury Duty at the Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. Thankfully, I brought my laptop to amuse me and it wasn't that bad. At first there was a big group that had to head over to Westminster for a long 10 day trial. I was supposed to go up and register for it, but by the time I got in line they had enough people. Whew! I then sat there watching the Price is Right, reading a book, and playing on my computer until they announced that certain groups were going to get released for a two hour lunch. My group was again not called. I was afraid this meant we were going to be immediately assigned, but in fact it was the opposite. My group was released from duty for another year - woo hoo!

Last week really flew by! Greg, Jim, and Bryan came down from NoCal for a trip to the park and I met up with them for lunch at Downtown Disney. It was cool seeing them again. I hadn't seen Greg and Bryan in at least 8 years and Jim about 3 years. It was nice to catch up and see what they are all up to. For those not in the know, I roomed with Greg and Jim back at UC Davis.

And it's official! The next Club Josh vacation is to a land down under. Two weeks in Australia seeing all the big sights. It will be my longest vacation ever, outlasting Europe 1998, 2002, and the Japan Trips. I am very excited since this is the number 1 destination in the world that I want to visit (A spot formerly occupied by Bora Bora). I have had to sacrifice a lot to do this trip, but it will be well worth it. I wont have my usual fall trip (unless its a quick weekend away). It will also likely be my last trip until late 2007 since I will be up to my eyeballs in lagoon water at the new attraction. So I think I can justify the expense and the length of time gone.

Gosh I can't believe it is already the end of January - and still no Soda!

I have a large backlog of Movie Reviews coming down the pike. I have written most of them, but just need to go back and revisit some of them to fine tune.

Got a message from Jonathan. He is in Buenos Aires and was thinking that we should visit Argentina together sometime. I am all for it - especially if we can do either a Rio-BA-Santiago trip or BA-Antarctica cruise. Maybe 2007?

Alex called me last night to remind me about NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame remake of the 1972 seminal classic - The Poseidon Adventure. At first, I thought it was a joke, but lo and behold it is the real deal - catch it NBC Sunday at 8/7C. In doing some research, I discovered that there is a big screen remake being done by Wolfgang Petersen entitled Poseidon. It reminds me of a similar situation in 1997 when there was a TV miniseries about Titanic that aired when the movie was supposed to come out before it was delayed 6 months.

Some other interesting nuggets:
In the TV remake, it is a terrorist bomb that capsizes the boat rather than a tidal wave (it becomes a rogue wave in the movie). Oh, those wacky 2000's!

The TV remake features some of the same characters whereas the movie doesn't. Here is hoping they can convince Pamela Sue Martin, Stella Stevens, Gene Hackman, Shelly Winters, and any other living stars of the original to be extras in the big New Year's bash.

And one last disaster programming note: I still have not watched part two of Category 7: The End of the World. Part One was so chock full of cheesy goodness that I can’t wait to see more!

There used to be a day when you type his name into a search engine and there would be a picture of me shaving his head. Now when you search it is all the way on page 3, with the first two pages devoted to his own site and his work.

Why do I bring this up? I dunno really but today as I was loafing around procrastinating (I am starting to move clubjosh to its new home) it struck me that I hadn't emailed him in awhile. We usually go through spurts around our birthdays ruminating greatly on things in our personal lives. Then it occurred to me. I met Kris in the 8th grade which would put it about 20 years ago.. Holy Smokes!

My biggest regret is that we are not closer. He finally moved back to Chicago last month after 4 years in London - so now he is long weekend close (you are on notice, my friend). I wish we were in the same city. Not so I would bug him every day, but on a moments notice we would hang out and do something fun. It is one of those things I really haven't had in awhile. KC is also a great sounding board and whenever I vent or tell him my crazy dreams and wishes, he always would tell me to go for it.

So anyway, Kris I miss you. I can't wait to see you again in the flesh and catch up on all things.

Check out one of his blogs and his flickr site

Last night, I picked up Daniel from the airport. We got back to his place and hung out with Tara and Saphap and made it over to Olive Garden for some dinner. Getting into the car, Tara noticed a spider and was squealing and making the usual "Ahhhh get it away from me" noises. When we got to the parking lot of the Olive Garden, we saw the same spider on the roof of the car which Daniel pretended to have in his hands and chased Tara and Saphap around the parking lot.

After dinner, we hung out some more and late into the evening it was time for me to leave. All of a sudden, I heard this scream from the front room and Tara was pointing to one of the biggest roaches I have ever seen in my life. I have seen my share of roaches looking into the sewer manholes at UCD as well as around the backstage areas of Disneyland, but this was the biggest ever seen in a residence. Once Daniel saw it, he was right there with Tara recoiling in horror and squealing. It was up to me, despite my own disliking of roaches, to take care of it. What ensued was a series of mad dashes and Raid sprays chasing this speed demon around the apartment. I had it cornered in the bathroom and then it made an end run around me and into Daniel's bedroom - much to his dismay. We then lost track of it.

We pulled all the drawers out of his dresser and lo and behold it was there catching its breath. I swear it was panting. So after some strategy, I sprayed the little bugger and off it went. The goal was to trap it in a box and scoot it out of the apartment, bit when I put the box over it, I had the flat side facing the roach instead of the open part. The roach then proceeded to move the box! I then had no choice but to apply pressure to the box and spray more. Finally, it stopped moving, but my skin was crawling and the peanut gallery was still recoiling on the couch. After about 10 minutes, I slowly removed the box and Tara confirmed that it was dead. I scooped it up in the box and hurled the carcass over the balcony. Unfortunately, it didn't make it over the patio of the downstairs neighbors so they will get a present the next time they sit on their chairs.

It just goes to show that if you are going to tease your friend about a spider, be sure that your house is roach free or you will get the karmatic payback you deserve. (Meanwhile I am off to get new roach traps for my apartment because mine are almost 2 years old and you can never be too safe!)

July 13th was a benchmark day for me in two ways. First off, some background. It is summer season at the park now and for the most part I am working at night (although recently I have started opening on the weekends). Being a creature of bad habits, since I’ve started working 4-ish to 1am-ish, my schedule has been wake up at noon, go to work, come home from work and stay up a few hours, go to bed, repeat. So basically for five days out of the week, I get nothing done. No time to update the web site, go grocery shopping, clean the apartment, nada. Lately, I have been making an effort to try and get some small chores done here and there just so I don’t get ridiculously behind.

So I was in one of those automatic days when I checked my e-mail and got a note from Susie saying that her boyfriend proposed to her and that she actually was going to get married. I was convinced that the world was in for some serious repercussions from these events. I am really happy for her though – she seems to have found a really nice guy. Of course that leaves me as one of the few of my college friends who are single and all together unattached. Granted, I was in a long-term relationship until a few years ago, so maybe I’m just ahead of the curve.

Therefore I was walking out of the door of my apartment feeling all bummed out about my single-ness when an envelope fell to the ground. I picked it up and lo and behold it was a note from my apartment complex that they are jacking up my rent $110 a month if I renew a year lease. Suddenly, not only am I alone, but now I really have to seriously consider moving. I already pay close to too much (if you look at the salary-rent ratio), and the extra $110 is just a bit much for me, especially considering I don’t exactly live in the nicest part of town, and some of my fellow residents are, shall we say, less than stellar. Well there is the one neighbor who just put in hardwood floors and drives a Mercedes, so all is not lost.

Here is the final kicker: My lease is up on September 6. I just bought a plane ticket to Hong Kong for September 8. Perhaps I should sell everything and move to Hong Kong? Whatever I decide, I have about 15 days to make the decision. I have lots of hand wringing and sleepless nights ahead.

Well at least Susie is getting married. Maybe I’ll just go live with her. I think there is a wacky sitcom in there somewhere…

It has been one long rough week. After having so much fun with Nathan on Wednesday of last week, it was tough getting back to the grind. The following Friday, a similar venture out with different people didn't go quite so well - but hey, no one got arrested so it wasn't all that bad. During the past weekend I had my last two shifts on the west side before diving into the new Buzz ride 5 days a week. This first week totally kicked my behind. I am so used to sleeping in from being a night lead most of the time that 6am-5pm shifts really wore me out. Add to that the holiday crowds as well as the fact I needed to get some shopping done, I was totally frazzled.

I did manage to get all of my shopping done yesterday. I still think that I needed to get more, but I was so worn out, I was proud that I got as much done as I did - thank goodness for the Team Center and the World of Disney!!

Yesterday (Friday), I drove out to Arizona to see my family for a quick three-day celebration. It is nice because my maternal grandparents are in town as well. I haven't seen them as often as I should since they live up in Nor Cal, so it is nice to see them whenever I can. Also a plus, Jason was driving back to AZ from LA and we caravaned across the desert. It made the drive nice and focused. Oh, and let's not forget that terrible smell at the Flying J bathrooms on the CA/AZ border. On second thought, I really, really want to forget that smell! Can I also say how much I love my iPod? Whether it be flying to Japan or driving to Arizona, it is so wonderful to have most of my music ready to access. Now I just need to get the rest of my collection on there.

Mom gave me the complete story on what is going on with my grandparents. I knew things are not as they had hoped to be, but in it all there was some good news and some bad news. I hope things get better. More later as I get a chance to rest and ponder cosmic thoughts.

Hope you all have a great Holiday!

After two years, Nathan's path finally crossed mine again. When we last met, it was in November 2002 in Paris. We actually met up twice (it would have been three times, but the day I arrived, I was on a train when they suddenly told everyone to get off and then I was stuck in that station for 45 minutes. By the time I made it to the rendezvous, Nathan was gone.) and had a great time as usual. Now Nathan lives in Boston and was on his way to Australia for a nice long holiday. He had a 1-night layover in LA, so we decided to make a night out of it.

I picked him up around 5pm at his hotel in Lynwood. (They claim it is close to LAX, and it is - sorta) We then proceeded up the 405 and various side streets to Joan Crawford's former house (you can visit Nathan's site for more on his interest in her career and life). When we pulled up in front, we got out and he started to snap a few photos. I noticed some people walking our way, and my mind raced with stories to explain our presence in this uber-swanky section of Brentwood. The best story I came up with was that I was in the process of remodeling my own home and was told to check out the work the company was doing on this house. Fortunately, the people wee just out for exercise and after a quick glance in our direction (Ugh, they drive a CR-V, how common!) they were on their way.

It had only taken us about 40 minutes to make the trek their, and we then decided to eat over in Beverly Hills at the Stinking Rose. Little did we know just how brutal cross-town traffic could be. It took us almost 1.5 hours to get to the restaurant, which was barely 5 miles away. We left Joan's at 5:45 and did not make it to the restaurant until 7:20. Oy. Makes me glad I don't live in West LA.

After a nice dinner (mmmm Filet!) we headed up to WeHo for some after-dinner drinks. Nathan had 3 cosmos and I had 2 Wild Berry Martinis and 1 Pineapple Martini (Pineapple wasn't very good, but it was my clumsiness that knocked it over when I was only half way done. Really. Clumsiness. I Swear. We then shared a "Joan Collins" which Nathan invented in his Bar Tending Class. It's a Vodka Collins laced with Chambored (I don't think that is spelled right). Sadly, the bartender mixed in a ton of it making the concoction too sweet.

Between drinks we managed to walk down the streets a bit. After we were done with the last drink, it was time to go home. Thankfully, the traffic was all done and we made it back in one piece (no thanks to me doing an impression of Joan Crawford's Freeway driving). After a nightcap of Jack in The Box, it was time for goodbyes.

The whole night was full of catching up, reminiscing, and general goofiness. It might not sound like anything special to most people, but to me it was. Now I just need to return the favor and visit Nathan in Boston and all the other friends I haven’t seen in a while.

I had an awesome time on Sunday. It was great to be back on the boat and I truly will miss it when it comes time to move over to Tomorrowland in the near future. I think I owe the good time to the fact that Kris, Andy, and Vance were all there on the boat. I am fortunate that I get three more shifts on the Columbia next week. I guess it pays to have learned the boat while it was under refurbishment - there are more people with just Twain knowledge than those who know both.

I am diving in headfirst to the Buzz project. I am in the process of developing all sorts of neat documentation as well as taking notes on all sorts of little odds and ends in the attraction. With each day that passes working on the project, I get more and more excited. I think people will be very happy with the ride.

In the midst of my Pooh shift sat night, Diane Keaton was seen running around with her kids with Pooh and Tigger in Pooh Corner. I think she was having the most fun of all.

All the work doesn't leave much playtime lately. I still have massive amounts of holiday shopping to do before next week's return to Arizona. In two days Nathan will be here!! I think he is just what the doctor ordered and since I am off on Thursday we get to hang out all night. (OK maybe not all night - he does have a plane to catch on Thurs!)

The end of the road is near on some web projects that have been in the oven for months. Of course the client had TONS of comments at the last minute, but I should be able to hammer most of them out this week. Then what? Maybe I'll get that idea in my head out into some HTML!

Found myself in the park a lot the last few days. As I mentioned in the last update, Wendy, Mice and baby were in town visiting the park. Also, my friend Alex and his wife Kimberly also were spotted hanging around. And today, I signesd in Lev and his family. I think have been in the park almost every day for two weeks - weird!!

Today I tried to get a pic of the Gorn with William Shatner. Didn't quite work out as I had planned, but I was still thrilled to meet him. More tomorrow...

Today was a day of good timing. I headed over to the park today to check out the new Haunted Mansion Holiday as well as partake in a pizza and sundae bar event for West Side CMs that was held by Indiana Jones. When I finished riding the Mansion, I ran into Andy (someone I work with on the Boats). We chatted for a bit, and then when we parted ways, I ran into Mice and Wendy and Baby who are in town for the Mansion event. We chatted for a bit then I headed to the event backstage. When I arrived, I ran into Vishal who was just showing up. So we ate and chatted and then rode Indy to check out the new snake they installed a few days ago - looks nice!

After Indy, I ran into a bunch of people from the Pooh ride and then decided to head down to Laguna Beach to see Jason on his last day at the shop he was working at down there. When I arrived, he was just leaving to go have lunch. We hung out for a bit and then I headed home. Pretty nice that I caught everyone at the right time!

I wandered over to Fry's this afternoon and discovered they no longer sell 8mm camcorders (just Digi-8 and Mini DV). I am still trying to find a camera so I can digitize the 4 tapes I have from Tahiti and Hawaii. I might just break down and send them off to get converted.

It is amazing the amount of things that can happen in a 24 hour period that can completely alter your life. I mentioned before that I have been having issues with a friend and now they have finally hit a head where we are not on speaking terms. It seems so high school, but sometimes it is for the best. I won't go into great detail, but rest assured as before things will eventually work themselves out for the better. I always think of Sweet Charity when she gets dumped at the end of the movie and people ask her why she is OK. She then replies, "When you hit the bottom, there is no where to go but up!" That saying has kept me going many times - especially it seems in the last few years.

In other news, Nathan was in Vegas for the last few days, and I briefly hatched a plan to go and see him, but alas all this nastiness got in the way. I have some open vacation time now, so I might just have to pay him a visit in Boston when he gets settled. I might even get a chance to see Andy in his natural element.

Cooper and I have been IM'ing most of the night. He has reminded me one of the best things to do when you are down is to buy yourself something nice. We shall see what comes out of it. I gotta be careful though - I have a full plate of DVDs coming out in the next three months so I have to save up! Another thing we chatted about was maybe moving somewhere in 2 years.. Fingers crossed!

This summer has been exceptionally slow at the park, but even the moderately busy days are coming to an end. After Labor Day, we go back to the 10-8 schedule, and CMs all over the park go scrambling for hours. The first week of the reduced hours schedule has been good to me (not as many lead shifts as I'd like, but at least the hours are there). Some people are getting only two or three days a week, so I count my blessings.

It has been a big rollercoaster emotional week as well - Wendy and Mice welcomed their baby into the world, and for me I've had a rough patch with one of my friends. Things seem to be beginning to work out, so I'm in wait and see mode.

Did anyone else get confused by the Olympics? I somehow could never figure out when the sports I liked were on TV. I managed to end up watching some of the more obscure sports (cool to see it on TV) like the Mens Long distance Walk. It was truly bizarre to see. I also managed to see the end of the mens 5000m. Long distance races always remind me of the movie "Running Brave" with Robbie Benson about the Native American who ran the 10000m at the 1964 Tokyo games.

The title refers to a video I made with Leif Peterson for a 12th grade (I think it was English Lit or something). I unearthed the video copy I have and I had forgotten two things: 1) How funny the darn thing still is; and 2) How disappointed that I don't have the master tapes. When we edited the tape together (or when I duped it) some of the best bits got spliced over. I wish somewhere out there Leif still had the videotapes (I'm pretty sure we used his camera or that he ended up with a copy of the tape that is better than mine). Of course, I think only Leif or myself can truly appreciate the video and can gleam out some of it.

Another video I digitized was from college - Mutual of Omaha's Mesoclimate Adventure. It also got the ending cut off by some TNG episode (damn I hate early 90's VCRs). The good thing is that all the fun was in the early part and is still there to see so it is not as much of a disappointment as Stonehenge is.

I tried digitizing some of the old WKJC stuff that Alex, Kris, and I did back in '88. Unfortunately the old PXL dub to an old VHS tape has not lasted well. It was almost impossible to see back in '88 when I transferred it, and now time has taken its toll and its almost pitch black. I was able to brighten it up so you can actually see it as it looked like copied from the PXL. The only real fun stuff is the one episode of Captain's Log (don't ask) that survived with the three of us trashing Mom's white couches in the front room which doubled as the bridge in the episode "Mr. Schmuck has lost his ears".

One tape that is proving elusive to find is the one that has "Beyond Earthquake", "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure", and "Chronologie".

Jeez I was a disaster movie dork back in High School. Some things never change - just the special effects get better.

Curious as to how bad these epics are? Rest assured - Windows Media and/or Real Player versions coming soon!

At last I have finally began production on the DVD of Dome to Dome Twice. I'm sure some of you out there know what it is, but for the three of you out there who read this, Dome to Dome Twice was a sequel travel movie I made in 1994 with Wendy, Joe, and Death. We drove 3900 miles in 9 days around the western US with stops at Crater Lake, Seattle, Cataldo, Butte, Yellowstone, and Colorado National Monument. WE started out with ambitious plans to go to Denver and also Four Corners, but by the time we camped out in Yellowstone, things went downhill. The camera was damaged when Death accidentally fell on some steps at an overlook at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone river as well as the original Gorn was lost at the Old Faithful Inn.

After the trip some mending of relations needed to occur, but for the most part we all got over it and look back on the trip with fond memories (well at least most of us do). It has been fun watching the video and finally editing it the way I wanted to 10 years ago. I am not sure if I will post some of the video on the site. I don't really have a good real media converter and some of the files are large.

I have also begun transcribing my Tokyo Trip Diary. Chapter 1 is done and I am trying to get a chapter done every day or so. Stay tuned!

After a gorgeous weekend, I finally got signed off on the Mark Twain and the Columbia. The Twain was just one day of training and the hardest part is remembering when to signal the engineer and when to hit the spiel buttons around the river. I do love being in the wheelhouse. It is a great chance to interact with guests and give them that special extra memory of their time at Disneyland. It also affords the opportunity to blow the whistle so that all the people of Anaheim can hear you. It is a very traditional attraction not one to goof off with, but still a lot of fun.

The Columbia however is a bit more relaxed. they give the CMs a little more room to spiel and make the voyage more entertaining. The highlight of being a Columbia operator has to be pulling in and out of Fowler's Harbor. All the people along the River watch as you back out of the harbor. I know that I do whenever I see it happen. Plus in the role of Hawkeye you get to fire the cannon at Ft. Wilderness. You also get to actually drive the Columbia which, while intimidating at first, is actually a lot of fun.

I hope I get to pick up some shifts soon so I can hone my spieling on the Columbia and run the Twain with two boats in operation. The Cast Members all seem to be having fun and it will be a nice relaxing change from the Pooh ride.

The other event this weekend was Matt's birthday bash. Once again I had the Kool-aid and Vodka mix which rendered me inebriated. Good thing I knew when to stop this time - no vomiting. I think I only embarrassed myself a bit, but apologies were made to all involved and I think no lasting effects will be around.

Once again, I have gotten a bug. I don't know if it is because of the site, but I usually don't get sick this often. I blame part of it on a whirlwind weekend and now its time for me to circle the wagons and chill at home for a few days to get myself back in shape.

Here are some tidbits from the weekend:

I really enjoyed Day After Tomorrow. I'll post a review of it shortly. It had all the elements of a good disaster movie.

Palm Springs was fun. The last time I was there with Roger in 2001 we only ventured to downtown PS and didn't make it to some of the other cities. Apparently all the expensive shops and such moved to Palm Desert because Mayor Sonny Bono wouldn't let new construction take place. As a result PS is more a Hodge podge of old 50's buildings - some with cool little boutiques, others just closed. On the flip side, Palm Desert was brimming with life and full of people and cool stores. I managed to pick up some sheets at Stein Mart - a rare find to get Standard (Eastern) King sheets in California.

Towards the end of the trip I was wiped out. I knew I was coming down with something so when I got home I relaxed and watched a movie with Jason (Star Trek 2 - continuing our series). Sunday I went to work and was weak and miserable the whole day. I was going to go home early, but Daniel needed my help with some documentation. We then headed over to Mandel's BBQ where we got to see his pricing game for The Price is Right which aired on Friday. Its a game called 1/2 OFF and was super neat and the contestant won. Apparently Bob introduced Mandel to the audience during the commercial break. and on his site has a cool photo of him with Bob. I was still low on energy so we bailed out a bit early and headed home. I collapsed on the couch and it was off to bed.

Yesterday I called into work so I could have my recovery time. I did manage to make it out to North Woods to see Kevin and Cathy who were out celebrating their 10th Anniversary. I didn't eat much, but I saved most of my dinner for today when I feel better.

So I'll be laying low the next few day.

It has been crazy-busy the last week with people coming into town and with my work schedule so I'll do some quick mini-updates:

A Wrinkle in Time was really good on ABC last Monday. It was true to the book and was great to see on the screen. The special effects were pretty weak, but if you were able to get past those and some weak acting on the behalf of Charles Wallace, you can see how strong the original material is.

Cooper and Company were in town this week, and I spent some guest time in the park. I also took some photos of DCA and I will try and post them on the site soon. When people tell me that they spend a week at Disneyland, I wonder what they do with all that time. Spending time with the Cooper clan, I now know when you have little kids, you are on a whole different time table.

I did get to do a walk-through of the Indiana Jones Adventure on Monday night. It was super cool, but when I went on the ride on Wednesday, I have to admit the magic was gone on one of the last rides at the park that still mystified me. Thankfully, the second time I was on the ride I was more enthralled and enjoyed it again. I miss the snake tho - I can't wait until it starts moving again this fall. When I was in Tokyo, I thought our ride was better, but now I am not so sure.

Wendy and Mice were down this weekend at the park and it was nice to see them again. Despite some rain, we enjoyed a nice dinner at the ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney. As we were walking into the place, I mentioned that I had only ever eaten there once before. They replied "That was with us!" The food was actually good and the portions were large - add to it a 20% discount and some Hagen Das afterwards, it was a nice night out.

I passed them in the park while I was walking with a co-worker. He didn't know they were my friends, but he saw Mice posing for a picture with Lizard and leaned over to me and said "Are they friends of yours?" I laughed and mentioned, "Actually, Yes". He then recommended that I set up an inanimate object travel site. The wheels began to turn and then I was like "Nah - too much work!"

Nothing like a rainy weekend in LA to set the world on its ear. You see everyone here has forgotten what it is like to drive in the rain. As a result, they all drive the same speed and get in some spectacular accidents. Here at the apartment complex, a lake forms around my parking spot so that I need to jump or walk the long way around in order to get from the car to the apartment. At work, it wasn't raining hard enough to make the ride stop, just enough to get everyone cold and wet. This is alarming to me because with the secret trip coming up in three weeks, the last thing I want to do is get sick. I have started on the Echinacea and vitamins and will soon add the Vitamin C/Zinc combo to my regiment so that I can avoid anything. I'm also trying to get to bed earlier. (Not really working tonight though...)

One bright spot this weekend was today when I was at Load, I got to escort Cal Ripken onto the ride. Pretty cool - it was nice to have a group that was organized and not prone to breaking the ride down. I also got to see Lev and family at the park today. It was the first time I had seen the newest addition to the family. I certainly wish we all got a chance to get together more often.

One more Gorn note - according to the Gallery program, there are currently 399 Gorn photos on the site!! (actually 404 since there are 5 in the AV Day 2003 Gallery I haven't copied over yet...)

Been a busy week at work and around the house. Where to start..hmm. Perhaps it will be easier to do some quick blurbs:

Got a new couch this weekend. Went to a furniture maker behind Dad's work on Friday and picked one out. It was delivered on Monday and boy is it huge next to the futon. I had to move some other stuff around to make room and things are a bit tight in the apartment these days. I just need to get rid of my dining room table and chairs and I'll be OK.

Alan Menken and a posse of teenagers came on the Pooh ride the other day. Nothing noteworthy, they were very nice.

I almost went to Japan in March. Today is the last day to get the $399 round trip fare LAX-Tokyo, but I don't think I have enough time to organize the hotels and tours, let alone have enough money to afford the whole thing. It was very tempting because Daniel and I were talking about going and then the same day the airfare came out. Although it appears every time I plan a vacation with him, things get weird.

A little bit of a shakeup at work, but I guess I am still being evaluated so no decision on where I lie in the pecking order at the attraction. There is so much I want to do, but sometimes it gets frustrating.

I almost reached a point last week where everything was going well - work, friends, etc. and then starting Sunday it all started to go amiss. Ugh, can't I just get to a point where everything is nice and balanced??

Had a few people over tonight to exchange gifts and generally toast in the new year. We all took a picture together and my gift to them was to get them whatever Cafe Press item they wanted with the picture on it. The evening got off to a crash when David, ever so excited, bumped into my brand new Martini set (Taken out of the box 30 minutes before) and managed to knock one of my glasses off the rack and onto the floor. Needless to say, I now have a set of 3 glasses, and I think it set a record for how long I had a gift opened and it broke. A close second was Daniel's planetarium gift to me. The bulb burned out in about 5 minutes after spending almost 45 minutes figuring out how to get it to work. We did have a few mimosas to smooth things over and in the end, we all had a great time.

Monday night, Kobe Bryant, his wife and child were whisked onto the Pooh ride near closing. Thankfully, we managed not to pull a Heffner and break the ride down. (Although we should call it a Grammer since Kelsey pulled a Heffner months before.) He and his wife seemed nice and their baby, cute as a button, was asleep.

So ends 2003. Good riddance I say! Bring on '04. I am not sure how I will be celebrating the new year tonight. I am envisioning a low-key affair. I'll let you know how it turned out next year.

Yesterday was my first day off since I got back from New York and I used it to sleep in and get some much needed Holiday shopping done. I also managed to watch One Hour Photo with Daniel. I also managed to get most of my holiday cards out in the mail on Wednesday, save for my two overseas cards which must be taken into the Post Office. The good thing is that both people are away for the holidays and will get there cards when they get home.

My first two lead shifts were pretty interesting. I like being the night lead better so far. Just so much to do when you open the attraction and then the adjustments you have to make when people are late or call in sick. Most of these issues are dealt with by the time the night lead starts, but occasionally it can be hectic as well. Next week I have two long night lead shifts which should be fun. I also get to train this weekend - something I have not done in over a month. Right now, my schedule is pretty optimal - a little bit of everything. The only improvement is if there was another attraction to give me a nice once in a while break from the Pooh ride. But I am not complaining!

I was disappointed to hear that they have already selected the main lead for the new Buzz attraction heading for Tomorrowland. I was hoping that they would wait a year or so. That way, I would have a shot at it. Right now, I am just focused on learning more about being a lead so I can get good at it and not be so harried when things go awry.

Mice posted on his site that he got a nice new CRV. Looks like the EX model with the tinted windows. It has two things I wish mine had - the tinted windows and the All-Wheel Drive. Maybe on my next one!

Major bad TiVo experience last night. Daniel came over to watch Survivor only to discover that the cable had gone out or got messed up changing the channels. The result? An hour of a blank screen instead of the latest episode. Dang it! And then, the discovery that the episode of 24 I TiVo'ed for him on Tuesday was actually an encore of the first episode and not the new second episode. Man, it made me feel like a dork. Just goes to show you that nothing is certain -- no matter how hard you try. The evening was salvaged by an episode of CSI. (Which helped me discover the Cable was goofy - I turned it on and nothing was on the TV. By changing a few channels, the cable finally came to its senses.)

I must reiterate the fact that I hate cable boxes. It seems to me that in this day and age we should be able to do without them and plug the cable directly into the TV - which should have a built in multiple cable box so that it can be compatible with all the cable systems in the US (oh yeah why aren't they standard either? No wonder Europe is so far ahead on these things.)

So Daniel if you are reading this I'm sorry for having TV night messed up.

In work news, I am excited to finally be training new hires at the park tomorrow. So far every time I had been scheduled for new hires, the training got canceled. I haven't received a call from scheduling yet **fingers crossed**.

P.S. Be sure to catch my reviews of Brother Bear and Matrix Revolutions.

This weekend was a washout in more ways than one. It started Friday night with a deluge at West Hollywood. There were hardly anyone there and overall it was not much fun. I managed to get soaked, and my smoking jacket bled red all over my shirt. I hate being wet - especially cold and wet.

Saturday, around 8 people came over to sit and drink and gab in a very low key affair. I think my desire for organizing gatherings has been hampered this year by all of the events going on in my personal life. It is difficult to get excited and pump all your friends up when you are riding the rollercoaster of emotions and feelings about some of the same people. Oh well, no one said life was easy. Thank goodness Susie made it down. She and I had our own party - we were the only ones drinking and stayed up until 2am.

On Sunday, we went to Disneyland to ride Haunted Mansion Holiday. I am not sure if I was still glum over the last few days, but I didn't really care for it as I had in past years. I was not impressed with the Oogie overlay, and I think last years was so much better. The Mansion is an ensemble piece and to focus that much attention on one character hurts the overall ride. I didn't let that disappointment hamper the time I had with Susie. We got our picture taken in front of the caste and at the Golden Gate Bridge at DCA. We didn't have time to go on anything over there, but she wanted to walk around it. She is like me - wanting to know how things are done so I had a great time explaining things to her.

I really do wish she lived closer or that I had more weekends off to go up and hang out with her. I told her that she needed to drop everything and run off with me around the country and the world. We both got excited at the prospect and were trying to figure out how we could afford it. Our best answer? Leading tours of "Lord of the Rings" sites in New Zealand. The thought of getting away from it all is very appealing to me these days, and then there is another part of me that just wants to make everything work together.

On top of it all I think I am fighting a wee bit of a cold. My throat is getting very Bea Aurthur-ish (as it likes to do this time of year) and I think it is part smoke and part sudden temperature drop (sheesh 2 weeks ago it was 95 - today it was 65 and pouring).

For all of you that asked, I will be posting some pics of the new eyebrows and from the gathering this weekend soon.

I made it up to Amanda's salon up in Pasadena yesterday. She's been after me to come back and get my hair done for a bit. With me moving down to Orange County, it is a bit of a trek, but she does great work. When I arrived, Sarah was there getting her massive do done, so there was a bit of a wait. While I was waiting, Amanda asked me if I'd be open to her co-worker Marie doing a bit of "cleanup" on my eyebrows. Now as most of my friends know, my eyebrows long ago joined forces and created a single brow - further accentuating my Cro-Magnon forehead. So as I climbed the stairs, I thought that she was going to do some strategic plucking to make the edges look cleaner and get rid of a few stragglers on my brow.

So I'm lying down, listening to the relaxing music over the speakers and Marie goes to work. I feel her combing my brows (something very soothing - I recommend it if u have never had it done) and gently plucking here and there. All of a sudden I feel a warm sensation in the middle of my brows. She then says to me that this will feel just like a band-aid. I then began to think about how much I hate removing Band-Aids because it rips the hair out - right as I was thinking the words "hair out" my eyebrows ceased to be joined. Man that smarted!! She then quickly waxed all around the brows giving me a natural look. I have to say I was amazed. I felt like I just got a 'Queer Eye' or 'Oprah' makeover. The reviews were unanimously positive (even from Dad who after chuckling "What happened to you?" said it looked better). I also received a new temp 'do as I grow the hair on the top of my head out. Why? I don’t know - Amanda said I looked better with slightly longer hair and had great plans for me. She had to give me some refresher pointers on my hair goo, and then I was off.

It is still strange to look in the mirror, and I have an incredible urge to rub my fingers through my newly groomed brow. So far I have limited contact to a minimum since Amanda warned me I might break out. Depending on how it goes, I plan on making a monthly trek to the salon to get freshened up. One thing I can say is that thank god I don't have back hair!

Tonight, it’s back to West Hollywood for the annual parade of the bizarre. This year I am going with a smoking jacket and pajamas - a la Heff. I am going to wear my long johns under my pjs since it is supposed to rain tonight. The stars are aligning in a way that I'm going to have to keep my guard up. I'm hoping it won't turn into a drama fest, but when certain people are afoot and alcohol is involved, I have to step up and take charge and ensure everyone has a good time.

Tomorrow, Susie (and maybe Mark) is coming down for a minor get together to celebrate the recent birthday. Not really a party (I think last year's Night of 100 Stars was prolly the last themed party I will organize for awhile - but you never know), more like friends coming over for drinks to watch movies. It seems in this day and age it is getting more difficult to organize an event weekend where we all get together and party. I hope that no matter who can make it or how many people show up, that my friends and me will always get together a couple times a year.

I've managed to do a bit of movie watching lately. First up was the Matrix Reloaded. I didn't get to see this one in the theaters when it came out, but I decided to pick up the DVD at Best Buy. I have heard a lot about this movie, but I still enjoyed it. One of the things that got to me was how fake a lot of things looked. I know when you see movies on the big screen, film tends to make some of the computer effects look realistic. But robbed of the graininess of film and on my TV some of the sequences were very artificial (the freeway chase comes to mind as well as Neo fighting all those Smiths). I don't remember noticing this with the first Matrix - save the bullet time sequence. Come to think of it, I really didn't notice it until I saw a special explaining how it was done. Other than some of the fakeness, I thought it was better than most people said it was. I know I will be seeing the next one when it comes out next week.

Another DVD recently watched was the Star Trek V Collectors Edition. Many people consider this movie to be one of the worst of the series, but in fact I like this movie more as time progresses. Sure the special effects were doomed by Bran Ferren (I really think Paramount should let them re-do all of the effects shots in the movie a la TMP), but as a character piece it holds up (certainly better than that Nemesis crap). The special features on this DVD were great as well - I enjoyed the behind the scenes stuff as well as the myriad of trailers. I remember that I labeled some of my old video tapes whenever I caught a Trek movie trailer on them. It also makes me want to go through the Trek IV disc since it is still in its wrapper. One day!

I actually made it out to the Cineplex to see Scary Movie 3. I remember liking the first two, and when I found out David Zucker was directing, I knew I wanted to see it. The laughs were fast and furious, and I am always a sucker for spoofs like these. It's not anything earth shattering or mind blowing, but a decent way to spend a few hours. I was disappointed that David's mom Charlotte Zucker wasn't there for a brief cameo as she is in most of his films.

Work continues on the WDW photos, I've managed to caption most of the Magic Kingdom and should have the rest done soon. My friends Mice and Wendy are in Florida this week (and seem to have a good internet connection, not like me) check out his site and read updates while he is there.

One last note - I managed to win some auctions on eBay of old vintage Disneyland photos!! I'm very excited!

Well I am back. After one of my longer vacations, it feels good to be back home. I really had a good time at Walt Disney World, which I attribute to my friends going along. Not to say that we didn't have our share of disagreements, but it just helps mature our friendships.

Some highlights:
- Tiffany's face in almost every photo capture (especially her first time on Dinosaur)
- Appliances Direct
- Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
- Getting a WDW name badge
- That first time on Mission Space
- Journey into Imagination with Figment
- Tower of Terror 3 times in 30 minutes (thanks Jeff and Jimmy)

That is just to start. I took over 800 pictures which I need to sort through and categorize before posting to the site. I am going to probably pare it down to around 400 or so for the site. I also was able to get some video snippets with the new camera which I will try and post as well.

I didn't keep a journal regularly during the trip so there will be no Trip Diary, just lots and lots of photos. I also didn't take very many Gorn pictures since he had already been there in 2000, but I did get some new ones that I will try and get up soon. Now its off to sorting - and I have to go back to work today as well.

Last Thursday, Daniel, Melissa, Leslie, David, Aaron, and I headed for the L.A. County Fair. The last time I headed for the fair was supposed to be a quiet Tuesday in September 2001. I actually did make it there later in the month and I remember not being that much impressed. This year, I decided to go with some friends, and I can say that the L.A. County Fair still does not impress me. Of course, most of you know that I lived in Pleasanton (home of the Alameda County Fair) and in Davis (A hop skip and a jump away from the State Fair in Sacramento). The State Fair by far still holds the mantle as the best Fair I have been to. Why? Maybe it is the monorail. Maybe it is Wet and Wild. Maybe it is the free trees that they used to give out in the forestry section. I don't know. The food isn't that great, but somehow the ambience of the whole affair was just better.

The L.A. version is actually large (considering there are 9 million people in LA County it needs to be) and was fun for a visit, but I did notice that there were not many differences since the last time I was there. Sure the flowers in the floral exhibit were good, but I did notice a sharp decline in the quality of vendors at the fair - not nearly as much "Wow, that's way cool" stuff as there used to be. Maybe I am just getting older and am less easily impressed.

Some of the things I enjoyed: The photography exhibit (always a fav, and I signed up to get some information about possible participating next year - wait. I live in Orange County - D'OH!), the model railroad (Daniel was drooling for hours over it), the vibra-chairs, the tribute to 100 years of flight, and the presence of a "Hot Dog on a Stick" stand near the livestock and other farm animals exhibits (including pigs!! At least we know it was fresh).

Some of the things I didn't like: the price of food was outrageous, you could only buy water at designated "Sparkletts Stands" not at the rest of the food stands (idiotic), admission and parking ($10 to get in and $7 to park). I dunno why prices are so out of control - it is like they are trying to weed out people or something. Maybe its just inflation.

I did take some good pics that I will try and post on here later today. In the meantime, I'm getting all my stuff pack and laundry done for the big trip.

Since I relocated to Orange County, my only real traffic beef has been that cursed light at Westminster and Newhope that takes forever if you miss it. This week, I have gained proper perspective on how silly my traffic woes are. I have been working at my dad's work in South Central Los Angeles for a couple days this week. I notice that I am more aggravated and tired when I get home and need some good 'me' time to try and calm myself down. I keep asking myself, "How did I manage to commute from SFV to Anaheim for over a year?". I don't think I could do it anymore. It was like the shock of going from my Davis commute to the Santa Monica commute four plus years ago.

I am in the middle of two solid weeks of work. No days off until next Friday when it is off to Phoenix and Four Corners. It's going to be tough - on my schedule I have all early shifts at the park and of course early rise for my dad's work (I'm there three times next week as well) and the commute. It hurts because I am a night owl, and I find it difficult to force myself to go to sleep early. I know one day I will just come home and take a nap and then wake up at 4am. Oh, that sounds nice.

Last night, I saw the remake of "Freaky Friday" with Daniel. Both of us liked the movie. I don't remember much of the Jodie Foster version from the 60's, but I do remember liking it as well. One thing I noticed at the Downtown Disney AMC theater is that they have installed the new digital pre-movie slideshow. Sadly, they haven't taken advantage of the technology and used it to provide streaming video, but rather have turned the slide shows into glorified Power Point presentations. Another pre-show highlight was the trailer for "Brother Bear" , the new Disney animated feature coming out in the fall. It looks like a new version of the Lion King, but with Bears and sans patricide. Well, at least it looks better than Treasure Planet (which is not hard).

Oh and one more item: The Coopers paid a visit this past week. I haven't seen them since the A-V trip to Vegas back in February. A lot has happened since then, and it was good to catch up. Their relatives were also glad to have someone with a fresh set of legs chase off after Noah.

It's official. After much promising and procrastination, me and my friends finally committed to going to Walt Disney World at the end of September. It will be the first time I have gone on vacation with a group of friends since Dome to Dome - I hope this group fares better. (A-V Day wasn't a vacation - it was a party!) We will be staying on property at the All Stars Sports Hotel, which I hear is just like a Motel 6. Thankfully, we all get into the land parks for free and get discounted entries into the other areas (water parks, DisneyQuest, etc.) and our hotels are 50% off. No word on whether we get discounts on food, but I'm sure we will get something. When I went to Disneyland Paris in November I was able to get discounts on souvenirs and food at most places, so WDW should be a piece of cake.

In flipping around Trio waiting for Battle of the Network Stars to start, Daniel and I watched this old variety show called "Pink Lady and Jeff". It was very surreal. Pink Lady is a Japanese duo and Jeff is some second rate comedian. Together they form one of the oddest groups in show business history. The show was so bad that it was actually funny. Sadly, since it was only on for six weeks in 1980, it will be off Trio this week. Don't forget to catch the Battle of the Network Stars marathon on Sunday!

My aunt woke me up at 6:30am to tell me Charo was on the Today show. I was taping it on TiVo, but since I was up I watched it. She performed the Ketchup Song and Bolero - her two new staples. One thing that was interesting to note is that they showed a CD entitled Bolero. One wonders if she is putting out a new album or just a single of her classic version of Bolero. The Las Vegas Sun mentioned that she was going to promote Vegas in a big way, but it appears she ran out of time. I hope NBC puts up some clips on their site.

I have held out for a long time. I think I even liked the shock value when I would tell people, "Yeah, I still have one of those". But no more. Not after last night. I decided to watch Lost Highway with Daniel. It is one of the few movies that I own on Laser that has not come out in one form or another on DVD in the US (It has apparently come out in Pan and Scan in Canada - more on that in a bit). So I decided to open my box of laserdiscs and plop it into the player. I should have known something was up from the get-go.