Is It November 4th Yet?

Tonight's the final presidential debate.

Or what I like to call "The final nail in Mr. McCain's presidential bid coffin".

It's about time for us to put Mr. McCain's increasingly nasty and schizophrenic campaign to bed.

Vee Pee

Tonight's the VP debate.

I'm more excited about this one than all three of the Presidential debates combined.

Hilarity should definitely ensue.

What Am I Listening To Today?

Just because I can and just because I'm odd, I am going to list what music I'm listening to throughout today. I probably won't do this tomorrow as I will have lost interest in doing this by the end of today!

I have my iPod on album shuffle, so I get a random album that plays all the way through.

I'll update this post as a new album comes up.

So go pop some popcorn and plunk yourself down in front of the computer screen. It's a lot more fun than $700 billion failed bailouts and 700 point drops in the stock market!

1. Bright Eyes - "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning"
2. Adam & The Ants - "Kings of the Wild Frontier"
3. Moby - "Play"
4. Radiohead - "In Rainbows"
5. Pink Floyd - "Ummagumma"
6. The Beatles - "Anthology I"

The Last Two Safe Banks In America

Introducing



Bank of Under the Mattress

and



First National Cookie Jar

All assets secure (as long as you put money in them and don't lose them somewhere).

(Hey! Where's MY $700 billion bail-out??)

"Is Stevie Wonder A Soka Gakkai Member"

I have that Sitemeter thingie attached to my blog because I'm curious about who happens across my site.

In most cases, if someone hits my site from a Google search (e.g. you search for "The Beatles" and I happen to have a Beatles post, my post will show up in the search results), Sitemeter will show the Google query the person used.

This post's title was a Google search query a few days ago that directed the user to a page I posted about our recent big bus trip to San Francisco.

So...

To answer the question: No. Stevie Wonder is not an SGI member.

However, another very talented musician and master of the piano is a member - Herbie Hancock.

So there you go!

Fringe!

Oh, yeah!

TV's merchant of crack, J.J. Abrams, has me hooked on another crazy, spooky, engrossing hour of TV: "Fringe".



I was a major X-Files fan back in the day and haven't had a good X-Filesish fix in a long time (sorry, kids, "I Want To Believe" was VERY disappointing).

"Fringe"'s pilot last night had everything a growing TV sci-fi geek needs for healthy bones and a shiny coat - mysterious conspiracies, melting people, mind melding, the FBI. Mmmmm. Tasty.

It makes the long, long, looong wait between seasons of "Lost" much more bearable.

Vacation Photos!

Just got back last night from a three-day jaunt to Northern California (San Jose, Berkeley, and Sacramento).

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Well, here's 24,000 words worth.

(Disclaimer: My wife took the professional pictures with the good camera. These shots are from my iPhone that I occasionally uploaded to MobileMe)

(Note: I was amazed that after flying an hour north, we were still in California. This is a BIG state!)

Holy Joker, Batman!

Quick, quick, quick (work hours are for working, not blogging...)

Finally (FINALLY) saw "The Dark Knight" last night (knight?).

All the critics and pundits who said Heath Ledger should get a posthumous Oscar nomination were absolutely right! (kright?)

The whole movie was awesome, but Ledger was astounding.

Obama

My boy Barack Obama will officially get the Democratic Presidential nomination tonight!

Is it November yet???

This is the first time since Bill Clinton's first term in office that I've been excited for an election.

It's time to purge the last eight years out of our system!

Good Feeling

Ya ever had to accomplish one of those big, multi-day tasks that, once you complete it, your brain refuses to acknowledge that you completed it?

So you spend every few hours thinking "Oh, man, I gotta do... wait. I did and I don't have do it anymore".

That brief feeling of euphoria is great! It's like waking up thinking you have to go to work only to realize it's Saturday.

Finally finished clearing out our storage facility on Saturday after several weeks of getting stuff out. Now, every time I think I need to get more stuff out of storage this week, I get that euphoric feeling when I realize I don't have to!

Yay!

What The Kids Will Be Clamoring For This Christmas

Experience the look of joy in your favorite child's eyes as they help Jesus Christ...



...and his sidekicks, the Racing Nuns,...



...battle the feline force of Evil: the Crazy Cat Lady!



Merry Christmas, indeed!

(and No! I did not purchase these... I ain't that crazy)

It's Official!

Michael Phelps has officially won more Gold medals in the Olympics than me.

As of this post, he has 11.

So far, I have 0. In fact, I've never played in an Olympics. In fact, my only encounter with the Olympics was going to the rowing competition back in 1984 in the L.A. games.

Good job, Michael!

Aloha, Part II

Here's another Hawaiian word with disparate meanings (from my Hawaiian-Word-A-Day calendar):

MU'UMU'U

The definition I've always known is "loose gown".



But my calendar also defines it as "amputee" or "cut off, amputated".

Discuss.

And by the way, it's pronounced "moo-oo moo-oo", not "moo moo". Cows say "moo moo", not loose gowns.

UPDATE: It's good being married to a Hawaiian. My calendar is sorta correct.

Mu'umu'u (with the okina) means "loose gown".

Muumuu (without the okina and pronounced "moo moo") means "amputee".

This just proves, boys n' girls, that punctuation does count.

Palate Cleanser

Now that we've all had a full-course meal of crazy, let's wash it all down with...

KITTIES!



PUPPIES!



RAINBOWS!



and UNICORNS!



Ahhhhh. Don't we all feel better now? It's like taking Pepto-Bismol for the brain.

Crazy

I am never ceased to be amazed at what people are capable of doing when they snap.

Warning: It's a gruesome story. Read at your own discretion.

Bus passenger beheaded seat mate, witness says

Now I need to go find something a lot more "feel good" to post...

...And How Was YOUR Tuesday?

Mine was fun.

Nothing breaks up the monotony of the daily grind like a 5.4 earthquake.

Shook my office building pretty hard. Made it feel like we were floating on water. Fortunately, nobody got hurt. The only damage was a metal rod that broke free from the ceiling and impaled (IMPALED!) a folding table at the front of the building.

The good news? California didn't fall into the ocean.

Best Bathroom Icons Ever

You know the traditional symbols for Men's and Women's bathrooms, right?


(for those of you with bathroom amnesia)

Legoland did those symbols one better:


Now that's more accurate.

I love any place with a great sense of humor.

Justice. Is. Served. (I Think...)

So I'm driving to the bank yesterday. Just as I'm about to pull into the driveway, I see a police office walking towards the driveway. So I stop to let him pass.

Some punk in a black Mercedes behind me honks his horn and recklessly whips into the adjacent lane to pass me.

The officer stops and stares (and I mean STARES) at the Mercedes. Then he resumes walking as he reaches for the radio pinned to his shoulder.

Unfortunately I had to pull into the driveway (so as not to block anymore traffic), so I didn't see how it played out. But I'm sure the Mercedes' license plate was reported to the police.

Justice served!

HA HA HA HA HA! That made me feel good!

The Siiiiiimpsooons

The final theme park last week with our nephew (who is now safely back home in Hawaii) was Universal Studios.

I haven't been there in years, which is ironic, given that of all the theme parks in Southern California, it's the closest. It's literally ten minutes away by car. When we drive to the main thoroughfare near our house, you can see the "Waterworld" show pyrotechnics at the other end of the street.

However, the ride I was looking forward to was The Simpson's Ride, which just opened a few weeks ago.

This ride is crazy! It's a motion-simulator-based ride, where your "car" rocks and moves in relation to the screen. And what a screen! The entire room is the screen, so you feel completely immersed into Springfield. The plot is simple: Sideshow Bob (voiced, as in the TV series, by Kelsey Grammar) tries to destroy the Simpsons (and you) on the ride.

The ride is full of Simpson's characters and is a total hoot. I can't wait to ride it again.

One warning, however. If you're sensitive to motion sickness, this ride will totally mess you up. So be warned.

Some photos of the ride's exterior:



You enter the ride through Krusty's mouth.



There was also a Kwik-E-Mart



You could take pictures with The Simpsons.



The ride's sign.





The ride was full of traditional Simpsons snarkiness.

The Official Site

Wall-E

One more thing: Go see Wall-E.



Absolutely wonderful.

Pixar can do no wrong.

Busy. Busy. Busy.

Whooo.

This has been a busy, but fun, week. This is the last week with the nephew. This past weekend was full of fun times in San Diego (Legoland *, the San Diego Zoo **, and Sea World).

Tomorrow is Disneyland/California Adventure for the third time and Thursday is Universal Studios (I'm looking forward to trying out the Simpsons Ride).

However, I'm noticing that whirlwind weekends at 40 are much more tiring than whirlwind weekend at 20!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Legoland has an entire replica of the Las Vegas strip done in Legos. I have pictures and, when I have the time, I'll post them.

** I also have some incredible pictures of the baby Panda. Again... once time becomes available!

The Joker Toy

I came across a commercial for some fast food joint the other night (can't remember where though. Getting too old to remember things.) and they were promoting their special "The Dark Knight" kids meal promotion that came with either a Batman toy or a Joker toy.

I'm sorry, but the Joker toy was creepy. It hewed very closely to Heath Ledger's bedraggled, psychotic looking Joker, but in toy form.

I would think this toy would give some of our more sensitive youth nightmares...


This is the Joker made for toys.


This is the Joker made for $30/hr therapy sessions.

Mmmm. Minty AND Lemony

Ugh. I have a nasty cough again.

Last time I had this cough, it flared up into bronchitis, then a delightful six day stay in the hospital with pneumonia.

Needless to say, I'm being a lot more cautious this time.

However, I've popped so many Lemon-Mint Ricolas that everything's now starting taste minty-lemony. It's like being trapped in a bottle of Sprite...

Blecch.

4th Of July, Disney Style

We spent the 4th of July with our nephew at Disney's California Adventure.

A splendid time was had by all including watching a special fireworks presentation. Instead of the regular Disney-themed fireworks, we were presented with red, white, and blue fireworks. What was particularly amazing were fireworks that exploded in the shapes of stars, smiley faces, boxes, and pentagons.

Unfortunately, the show had to stop early because the wind started picking up and Disney didn't want to risk embers drifting into the nearby neighborhoods. Especially since California is a statewide tinderbox right now.

One of the biggest treats was getting to go on the new ride "Toy Story Mania". This is now officially the most addictive ride at the Disneyland Resort (sorry, Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters).

Needless to say, I was too busy shooting targets to take pictures on the ride, but here's some posters and the ride's entrance:

STEVIE WONDER!!

Hey, guess where me and my wife were last night??

Watching Stevie Wonder at the Hollywood Bowl!! Practically in the front row. The legendary Stevie Wonder! Almost three hours of one classic song after another (plus one new song currently in the works).

I've been to the Hollywood Bowl several times and this was the first time I have ever seen every single person on their feet dancing to songs like "Sir Duke" and "Superstition".

Some pictures from my "yes, I know it doesn't have a flash or a zoom lens" iPhone (some were taken off a nearby video screen):



Stevie and his family at the beginning of the show.



Stevie and his daughter Aisha. She's was the inspiration for the song "Isn't She Lovely" when she was born. Trippy experience to see him serenade his daughter, who is now an adult, with the song.



Stevie and one of his sons singing a duet. His son sounds just like him at that age. Again... trippy.



One long shot of the stage. The band consisted of Stevie (obviously), a trumpet player, a sax player, three percussionists, two keyboardists (other than Stevie), two guitars, one bassist, three backup singers, and a full orchestra.

Happy 4th Of July!

Happy Fourth of July!

Even if you don't celebrate where you live, have a happy day anyway.

Drink a beer.

Barbeque something.

Shoot off a firework.

Intro To Hawaiian Food

We picked our eight year old nephew up at the airport this morning. He's going to stay with us for a couple of weeks and we're going to hit practically every theme park Southern California has to offer.

In addition to the usual travel stuff, his parents packed some awesome Lau Laus. Best on the islands.

What is Lau Lau?



Let Wikipedia enlighten you.

Good eatin'.

Gay Marriage - Week Two

It's been two weeks since California permitted gay couples to legally marry.

Let's have a reality check, shall we?

- Has California fallen into the ocean? Nope.
- Has fire and brimstone fallen from the sky? Nope. (California is always this hot during the Summer)
- Have hetero marriages disintegrated and the divorce rate shot up to 100% as the very sanctity of marriage is compromised? Uh. No. I'm still very happily married to my wife.

So have gay marriages destroyed civilization?

No?

That's what I thought.

We should spend less time protesting gay marriage and more time protesting intolerance.

Required Listening

While I cleaned the kitchen tonight, I stole borrowed my wife's Sounddock to listen to my iPod.

I randomly flipped through a few albums and landed on Sufjan Stevens' "Illinois", the second of his (overly ambitious) project to record an album for each of the 50 states.



This is one of the best albums of the past several years.

Recommended listening.

Wipeout!

Watched one of the silliest, looniest game shows ever last night.

It's called "Wipeout!" and involves people in various stages of fitness attempting to navigate a series of crazy obstacle courses for a chance to win $50,000. What makes it all the more entertaining is John Henson's overly snarky commentaries.

Full details here: Link (ABC)

I'm never ceased to be amazed at what people will do for money. Of course, all those winnings will probably go towards filling up their gas tanks!

Around The State In A Day

Had a really cool adventure on Saturday.

The religious organization I belong to, SGI (Soka Gakkai International), sent a bunch of us to San Francisco for a big kickoff meeting. We left L.A. at 11 PM Friday night, spent the day in San Francisco, then were back in L.A. by 11 PM Saturday night.

That means in a 24 hour period, we were on a bus for 14 of those hours. It takes approximately seven hours to get from L.A. to S.F. (driving at legal speeds, mind you).

We arrived at the San Francisco Community Center around 6:30 AM, where we could freshen up and have something to eat. Then they sent us to the Golden Gate Bridge for a group photo. Normally, you think one would be a little annoyed when half the bridge was enshrouded in fog, but it seemed appropriate for San Francisco. After that, it was across the bay to Oakland for the big meeting (which was both wonderful and inspirational), followed by a looooong one mile walk to a park for lunch and jazz music. Then it was back on the bus.

An absolutely wonderful, if wirlwindish, experience!


The San Francisco Culture Center


The Golden Gate Bridge


The meeting -- they gave us T-Shirts with a Harley Davidson-esque logo. Very cool.

Freeze Frame

So you're watching "So You Think You Can Dance" on the DVR.

So you get a phone call.

So you pause the DVR.

So you end up with the following frozen picture on the TV.



CREEEPEE

Hands Free For You And For Me

On July 1st, California implements a statewide law requiring drivers to use some kind of hands free device while driving if they need to use their cell phone. It can be one of those Lt. Uhura Bluetooth devices in the ear, a Bluetooth-enabled speaker box (that's what we're using), or even the cellphone's speaker. Basically, anything OTHER than holding the cellphone to their ear.

Even better, drivers 18 years and under can't use their cellphone while driving AT ALL, hands free device or not.

No longer will I be behind a car that's weaving dangerously in their lane only to discover they're not drunk. They're yakking away on their cellphone.

The first offense is $20. Next offense is $50. It continues getting more expensive.

I now find myself next to cars where the driver is on the cellphone and thinking "that's a ticket." I would love to know much money law enforcement rakes in during the first month.

Aloha

My wife gave me a Hawaiian-Word-A-Day calendar for Christmas so that I could pick up some Hawaiian words (and not sound so haole when we visit family).

I've discovered over these past months that some Hawaiian words have multiple meanings. Obviously, the most common and well-known one is "Aloha", which can mean hello and goodbye among other things.

However, today's word has some very diverse meanings. Can you find the correlation between all the meanings, 'cuz I sure can't.

The word: PE'A.

It can mean: 1) cross, 2) sail of canoe, 3) boundary and (here's the kicker) 4) to menstruate.

Know-it-all status to anyone who can correlate all four meanings...

Headline Of The Day

D.L. Hughley on Obama: `He's like a tall Urkel dude'

Link to Article.

George Carlin

George Carlin died a few days ago.

In my opinion, he was one of the funniest comics working the circuit. He could brilliantly point out the absurdities of every day life.

In his honor, here is a YouTube link to his classic "Seven Words You Can't Say On Television" (NSFW - the language IS salty) *

Link

* Interestingly, some of the words aren't so shocking anymore...

How Hot Was It?

This is from my car's AC controls at 6:30 PM Friday.



Yes. It was 111 degrees Fahrenheit (43.9 degrees Celcius) at 6:30 PM. 6:30. P.M. (That's evening time... when things are supposed to cool down).

After driving around for a few minutes, it cooled down to a relatively frosty 106 degrees.

That just ain't right.

iPhone Picture Time!

They've been marinating on my phone for months. Time to take 'em out of the broiler, season them with some comments and serve 'em up hot n' fresh.

Pictures from the iPhone.

In NO PARTICULAR ORDER!! WOOOT!



Kung Fu Panda! (from our local movie theater lobby)



A REAL Panda! (from the San Diego Zoo)



A real BABY Panda! (also from the San Diego Zoo)



Mmmmm. Heartburn.



How animals cool down on a hot day - birdy division.



How animals cool down on a hot day - squirrel division.



Lions, lions, and baby lions, oh my! (from the San Diego Wild Animal Park)



The Hollywood sign (taken from Hollywood & Highland)



The Hollywood Bowl (the little ant playing on stage is Elvis Costello. The iPhone doesn't exactly have a zoom lens)



Laundry cat!!



Mommy and baby Raccoons (a couple of blocks from our apartment)



Posted at the Santa Clarita, California Metrolink station. Commute to work at your own peril.



Ouch! (posted on the parking gate of a nearby apartment complex)



Posted in a bathroom stall. I can understand the first request, but the second? EEEW.



Who's been a Mouseketeer for over 15 years?? (16 years, 3 months to be exact).

That's it!

Thanks for playing!