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7/31/2005

Saturday Recap

We got a late start yesterday, so our lunch became dinner at The Counter in Santa Monica, my favorite place on the West Coast for burgers. They also serve up some scrumptious fried dill pickle chips, a delicacy we'd only had once before in Alabama. Good stuff.

I'd hoped to stop in the Giant Robot store, but we got there after they'd just closed. Another day perhaps.

After some driving around, checking out a funky video store in Hollywood, and avoiding a fight that was occuring outside of a QuinceaƱera, we headed home for a brief stop. Not wanting to call it a night, we thumbed through the L.A. Weekly to see what was going on at 11:45pm.

The Weekly jogged our memory about an event we'd talked about going to, but had forgotten. It started at midnight and was about a 10-minute drive (at that time of night) away.

The Tomorrow Show
was well worth the $5 admission price. The 2-hour comedy show was funny, absurd, entertaining. A couple of known people (such as Emo Phillips) performed. As tired as I was at 11:45pm, I'm really happy I didn't just go to bed. I'd have really missed out.

P.S. Tip of left index finger is still numb.

7/30/2005

Blogging in the Back Yard

Random thoughts on a sunny day...

Gotta love the wireless internet connection. I'm sitting in my back yard (even though it is "Africa hot") with my laptop. I decided to get off my lazy butt and do some chores and while one is in progress, I'll spend some time here.

I've been really addicted to updating my Flickr site lately. It's been too damn hot to do anything outdoors this weekend. I've been rediscovering photos from the last few years on my desktop and laptop computers. I've also started digging out old hard copy photos and scanning them in. Insanity. I have come to the realization that my photo naming conventions and filing systems often make no sense so I can not find specific photos that I know I have. Curses!

This afternoon I picked up a bunch of dog poop (reality-check for those of you who mistakenly think I live the glamorous Hollywood lifestyle) and drained and am now refilling the hot tub.

Since I finished reading HP, I picked up one of the manga books I got at Comic Con. I'm kind of digging this reading backwards thing! Dork! There, I said it so you don't have to, Ren.

My left index finger has been numb since about 9:00pm last night. It's making it hard to touch-type.

Why doesn't Blogger have a job category for "Healthcare" or "Medical" that you can pick on its profile page? I'd pick either one, but apparently they don't think anyone in those fields uses their site?!?

Enough of my non-sensical rambling. I must vacuum and add chemicals to the hot tub. Then we may drive out to Santa Monica where it will be at least 10 to 15 degrees cooler.

Oh Snap(e)!

Well, I finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it and am a bit sad to be done already. I was feeling some pressure from my Mom to finish it though so we can discuss it over the phone.



I won't dare give anything away, but I do think fans will enjoy this installment in the series. The wait for the 7th book is going to be long...

7/29/2005

Rusty The Dog

I recently told Eric, my husband, I'd started a blog. He said, "well, you've been blogging for over 2 years now." That's true, but it has been through the eyes of one of my dogs, Rusty. Yes, my dog has a blog.

Pause for laughter.

I know, it's silly. I do enjoy it, but haven't kept up as much with it lately. I started it when Rusty was actively working as a Therapy Dog. He hasn't worked in awhile due to some unfortunate circumstances and due to my laziness in finding him a new job.

Through my photos and my words here, I hope to open up a little bit more. I tend to be a private person though, so this may all end up being mindless drivel. I do a lot of fun things that I hope to write about, but being a bit under the weather this week, I'm not so fun. I've slept A LOT.

I cancelled lunch with a friend today since I'm not feeling so well. My plans include napping, getting a car wash, and mailing my stepdad's birthday present. It will be late as the big day is tomorrow, but most of my gifts are late. The excitement continues.

7/28/2005

Brilliant Indeed!

Feeling a bit better today and enjoying my favorite smoothie from Robeks, Berry Brilliance. It has the perfect blend of my two favorite fruits, blueberries and banana, along with some other good stuff. Got the immunity boost added to fight off this sinus thing.

It's a nice break to run outside and across the street to get my smoothie. It doesn't seem as hot today. I was also able to beat the noon rush by a few minutes. The girls in Robek's had a great 80's mix on. I heard the end of a Howard Jones song, a Madness tune, and the start of Def Leppard. Great songs for the end of the week. (I don't work on Fridays and I'm not working this weekend!)

7/27/2005

Tiny Cars

Something you rarely see in L.A., but something I love are tiny cars. I'd buy a BMW Mini Cooper in a heartbeat if I could afford it. I'm now looking toward the Scion XA which is very small and pretty cheap (although I'm broke right now, so it is still a lot).

This white car was spotted on the trip back to L.A. from Comic-Con in San Diego a couple of weeks ago.


Driving home from work today, I spotted this green car. I couldn't get a great shot of it though.



Taking photos while I'm driving is a bad habit I've gotten into lately. It isn't very safe, but I do make sure to put down my cell phone and latte when I do it! ;-)

Damn Sinuses!

Curse my sinuses! I've had a headache off and on for 3 days now, today being the worst! I took meds, rinsed my sinuses, and slept in (went to work late) and still no relief. I think having to be in air conditioning so much right now is not helping.

7/26/2005

Currently Reading

I'm currently enjoying Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I am generally a slow reader, but am almost halfway through it. My reading time has been limited and I do want it to last a bit. My mom is urging me to finish it ASAP because she read it in two days and wants to talk about it. She's angry and depressed about the ending, so I am curious to get there.

Of course I've had no time to even crack open the books I picked up at Comic-Con in San Diego. That's next on my agenda. Then I'll do some trading with Ren and read some of the cool stuff she purchased.

7/25/2005

Documentaries I've Seen in '05 that Don't Suck

These are all quite good actually...
  • Murderball
  • Grizzly Man
  • Rize
  • March of the Penquins
  • My Date with Drew
  • The Grace Lee Project
  • Ears Open, Eyeballs Click

7/24/2005

More Music from the '80s

I've seen a lot of bands/singers who were big in the '80s perform live this year. That will be another list for another day though.

Last night we saw Howard Jones, The Fixx, and Psychedelic Furs at the Pacific Ampitheater, Orange County Fairgrounds. I've seen HoJo perform a few times and was really looking forward to him. Eric was honestly only interested in his bit of the show. He was really, really great. He sounded amazing and had updated everything to be a bit more electronic. The audience responded well to his set too.

I've never been much of a fan of The Fixx, but they were okay. Their sound was tight and the hits were crowd pleasers.

Having never seen The Furs, I was very excited for the headliner portion of the show. What a major disappointment! Richard Butler sounded great and was entertaining to watch, but you could barely hear him. The sound mix was horrendous with the guitar turned way up and over-distorted. A quarter of the audience left midway through and there were a lot of others complaining as well.

I can only hope Howard Jones will be doing regular tour dates soon so I can enjoy a full length set.

7/23/2005

Places with Hamburgers I Really Like

  • The Glenwood Pines - Ithaca, NY
  • Kua 'Aina Burgers - Haleiwa, Oahu
  • The Loop - Jacksonville, FL
  • The Counter - Santa Monica, CA
  • In-N-Out Burger - Various locations in CA, NV, and AZ
  • Damon's Steakhouse - Glendale, CA

7/22/2005

Subway/Light Rail Systems I've Ridden

In chronological order:
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Philadelphia
  • Toronto
  • NYC
  • Atlanta
  • London
  • San Francisco
  • Los Angeles
  • Boston
  • Chicago

7/21/2005

Vacation Recap, Part 2

Wednesday, July 13th (cont.): I switched the clothes in my suitcase, made sure the dogs were all set and we headed down to San Diego. Due to my travel delays, we unfortunately missed Preview Night. Oh well. We had a great, cheap dinner at Fred's though.

Thursday, July 14th: Official first day of Comic-Con! We did have a bit of a snafu picking up our pro badges, but managed to resolve it and get in already. Started out as I always do...headed over to Keith Knight to buy his newest book. Passed out "I *heart* Jason Ho" buttons at the Bongo booth. We browsed the exhibit hall until Eric's short ("The Switch") showed in the Comic- Con Film Festival. There was a pretty good audience and a good response. After that, I headed over to Keith Knight's panel which was really enjoyable. We ended with the "Film Threat" panel. We headed over to Seaport Village for dinner at Buster's. I then made more I *heart* Jason Ho buttons back in the room.

Friday, July 15th: Highlights included the Jhonen Vasquez spotlight and the presentation on the upcoming "The Boondocks" animated series. We also attended the underwhelming Henson 5oth anniversary presentation. We had dinner with a big group (Ren, James, James II ("The Brit"), Angel and others) at Mr. Tiki's. Good drinks, good food, good friends, good times.

Saturday, July 16th: Up early to get to the ABC panel on Lost and some new shows. Afterwards, lined up for the Kevin Smith panel and then the Bradbury, Harryhausen, and Ackerman panel. It was great to see the godfathers of Sci-Fi, but it was pretty boring. They couldn't hear any of the questions and then didn't answer them when repeated. We were a little late to the King Kong panel and then stayed for the Tenacious D performance which was great. Dinner with Dave, Robin, and Sean at Buca di Bepo. Good food, good friends, good times. Dave crashed in our room.

Sunday, July 17th: Last day of Comic-Con! Rush to the floor to buy all of the cool stuff we'd picked out over the prior few days. We took one break for the film festival awards (Eric didn't win...boo!) We then did more shopping and headed out a few minutes before the exhibit hall closed. We did pretty well beating traffic and made it to Orange County in time for the Dishwalla, Gin Blossoms, and Tears for Fears concert.

All in all, a great time away from work. I missed my dogs though. Check out my Flickr link to see photos of the trip (and then some).

7/20/2005

Vacation Recap, Part 1

I'm recapping my recent vacation so I can remember some of the details.

Friday, July 8th: Morning flight from LAX to Buffalo via Philadelphia. Some delays in Philly got me into Buffalo around 10:30pm. Rented a car and headed to Bill and Suzanne's (good friends from college) in Ithaca (~3 hour drive). Everyone was sleeping, but Bill and Suz got up and we chatted for awhile. I got to meet their sweet dog, Chimay, the fourth cutest dog I know.

Saturday, July 9th: Maura (yet another good friend from college) and Xavier were also at Bill and Suzanne's. I was so happy to finally meet Maura's sweet little boy. We went to the Farmers' Market and lunched at The Glenwood Pines (yum!) We headed back to the house just to hang out and alternated between indoors and outdoors as the rain came and went. We had a fabulous grilled dinner with some lovely sangria and cider. Good food, good friends, good times.

Sunday, July 10th: Went to the Ithaca Commons, drove around, photographed the Ithaca Falls, driving tour of IC campus. Lots of reminiscing of stupid college days. Maura and Xavier headed back to NJ and I napped before driving to Niagara Falls. Checked into my hotel.

Monday, July 11th: Day 1 of the conference I attended: the Annual Meeting of the International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ). Saw some old friends and made some new ones. Inspiring international research is happening in the field of human-animal relations. In the evening, I drove to Lewiston and met up with Susan (my college roommate for 3 years and great friend) and her daughters. She reminded me we met almost 18 years ago as college freshmen. Yikes! I was a little bummed not to see Chris, but I did get to see Aunt Joannie, Jeanine, Russell, Tiffany, Tommy, Joey and the dogs Ginger and Lucky. The visit was amazing and way too short. I'm just happy to have seen everyone!

Tuesday, July 12th: Day 2 of the ISAZ conference. Afterwards, I napped a bit and then walked around Goat Island to see and photograph the falls. It was very humid. I grabbed some dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and returned to the falls to see them lit up at night. What a sight!Since my flight was so early Wednesday, I just stayed up and packed.

Wednesday, July 13th: Drove to the Buffalo airport around 2:30 am. Returned car and waited in the lobby for the airport to "open" (!) I got on my plane that was due to leave at 5:30 am, but due to some kid who dropped a backpack, they evacuated the airport and held all planes. I missed my connection in Philly. I did get put on a later flight, but there were delays there too and I arrived much later than planned to LAX.

to be continued...

7/19/2005

Back to Reality

Reality sucks. I'm heading back to work in a few hours after being on vacation for over a week. My time off was jam-packed and fast-paced with flying, driving, visiting, eating, drinking, conferencing, travel delays, more flying, more driving, lots and lots of walking and geeking out, all topped off with an outdoor concert.

I wish I could take one more week off to read the comics I bought at the San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend and my new Harry Potter book. Poo.

7/18/2005

To blog or not blog?

I've been toying with the idea of doing a blog. I've been doing some photoblogging of sorts over at Flickr and am really enjoying that. I usually don't have much to say really, but sometimes want to say a bit more about my photos or the events and people portrayed in them. Other times, I just feel like ranting about stuff, so who knows where this will go.

 

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