I think that whatever I had last week was attributable to the Santa Ana that came through here. As soon as it passed, I’ve been feeling a lot better. The weekend was pretty relaxing, on the whole. Friday night, Michelle, her roommate Stacey, one of the guys Stacey is dating, and myself went out on the town. Our first stop was at a party that Stacey knew about. When we walked in the door, I think we practically doubled the attendance. Of the people that were there, I would say that I was their younger by at least 10 years. Due to the age gap, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves off in our own little group. Being that the party was kind of dead and we weren’t really talking to anybody else anyway, I suggested that we go see 8 Mile (we were planning on seeing it later that night) now and then come back to the party afterwards.

8 Mile was somewhat of a let down. I went into it expecting a lot more from the movie. I presumed that the story would develop more and follow Eminem’s life farther than it did. Just as I was getting ready for the movie to really progress, the credits started rolling. Oh well. This week, I’m going to try to see the new James Bond flick. I’m hoping that it’s better than the last one.

Saturday was a pretty mellow day. I went to the gym in the morning and stuck around the house for the majority of the day. I was planning on going out Saturday night, but fatigue got the best of me and I crashed out pretty early.

Sunday morning, I got together with the boys to do a little practice bowling. For the first few games, I couldn’t really find my groove. Then it happened. Starting with the tenth frame of the 3rd game, I found the zone. I hit three strikes in a row to finish out the game. We started the fourth game, and it was as though I couldn’t miss. No matter how I threw the ball, no pins were left standing. I threw strikes all the way through the 7th frame (which, including the last game, made for 10 in a row!). I left a couple pins standing in the eighth and ninth frames, but I picked up both spares. Finished up the game with a couple more strikes, which led to a grand total of 264! That score will likely stand as my personal best for quite a while.

After bowling, I went back home to catch up on a bunch of things around the house. I had a hockey game in the afternoon. I played an average game, and we ended up winning 2-1. My dad came down to watch the game and then the two of us went out to dinner afterwards. I took him down to Zen 5 in Pacific Beach for sushi. The fish was extremely fresh and everything tasted great.

Tonight I have bowling after work and then I’m going to try to get to bed relatively early (I have another hockey game tonight at 11:15, but I’m going to pass).

Not feeling well today, so I'm not really in the mood to write.

(A day late, as the site was down yesterday)

The one article of clothing that doesn’t look good on just about anyone? Black jeans. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a pair of black jeans that have been the least bit flattering. And, in a very limited survey, almost nobody that I talked to raved about having a pair in their wardrobe. So, what’s the deal? Jeans look good on everyone, black pants look good on everyone, shouldn’t black jeans look spectacular on everyone? Perhaps it’s too much of a good thing?

Another question to ponder: Where do we draw the line between sports and games? I propose this criteria: If something is a sport, then you would be willing to see its participants naked (e.g. tennis, hockey, football, volleyball, etc.), if it is a game, forget it (bowling, darts, golf, baseball, etc).

Speaking of games, last nights bowling was ok. We split the series 2-2. The first two games were nail-biters, the second especially (we won by 3 pins, which is a margin of about 0.3%). By the end I was starting to get more comfortable with the ball, so I look forward to next week.

Michelle made the cut for the pre-game show at the Superbowl, so we'll all have to look for her on TV. Congrats!

Nothing going on tonight. I think I’m going to go home and take a nap, as I feel the possibility of a cold coming on.

As predicted, Friday was a mellow night. Michelle came over so that she could study for the GMAT and I did some work around the house and ran a couple of errands. Saturday, Al and I got together for lunch and then headed over to the bowling alley to get some practice in. For the first couple of games, I still couldn’t make rhyme or reason with regard to throwing my new ball. However, some guy on the lane next to us gave me a few tips and I was able to fix the major things I was doing wrong. I knew I could trust this unnamed bowler, for he toted a bag with him that contained no less than six balls.

After bowling, I packed up a bag for LA, picked up Michelle, and we were off. The traffic getting out of Pacific Beach was miserable, the traffic through Del Mar was atrocious, the traffic heading into Los Angeles was lousy; add up all those adjectives and you get a drive to LA that took 3 and a half hours. But, it allowed Michelle and I plenty of time to practice our karaoke skills. By the time we got there (LADaves), we were pretty tired and hungry. The three of us waited for Kevin to show up and then we went to a local sushi place for dinner.

Following dinner, we made a mad dash over to the karaoke bar for Melissa’s birthday. I say it was a mad dash, because the invitation made it very clear that we had to be there before nine, otherwise they were going to give all of our tables away. We were in the bar by 9:10. And we were the first people from our party to show up. Typical LA.

The karaoke bar was definitely entertaining. It was pretty easy to pick out the regulars. Ironically, the only person from our circle of friends to get on stage was Kevin. He and his brother reenacted the bar scene from Top Gun. Dave, Kevin, Michelle and I left the bar around midnight and went back to Dave’s place. We were all pretty beat, so we went right to bed. For whatever reason, both Michelle and I had a hell of a time sleeping, so we were up pretty early. After a quick breakfast, we were back on the road. The drive back to San Diego was much more pleasant than the drive up and we were back by 11:30. After dropping Michelle off, I went straight home and fell asleep for a few hours before my hockey game.

The game was a rough one. I was too tired to play aggressively, so I played a little soft. Everyone else, on the other hand, seemed to be ready for action. By the end of the night, there were 3 fights and 15 combined penalties (9 from our bench). But, the better side prevailed, and we ended up pulling out some late goals for the win.

After hockey, I still wanted to get some practice with my new bowling ball, so I headed down to the alley. I bowled three games, the last two, at my average. So, I think I feel comfortable enough with the ball that I will use it in tonight’s league games.

This morning, I participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony during which I was recognized for setting up our two computer training labs. I was presented with an award and an incentive bonus. It was just a small event, but they served refreshments and a couple of people got up to speak.


A cool time waster.

Amazon to sell the Segway Human Transporter for a bargain $4950.

Ladies, in search of that perfect escort for social events? Well, look no further.

Update to the Rock, Paper, Scissors competition.

After Wednesday, this week seemed to pick up some speed. I, for one, can’t wait to get out of the office and start the weekend, especially since today was such a gorgeous day.

Last night was pretty uneventful, hung around the house for a bit and then got together with Michelle, briefly. The weekend’s plans are in place. Tonight will be probably be a quiet one, maybe rent a movie. Tomorrow, I think I’ll do some bowling in the morning, then it’s off to LA to celebrate Melissa’s birthday. The party is supposed to take place at some karaoke bar, which means some heavy drinking will be in order.

Sunday should be pretty mellow too. We have to get back relatively early so that Michelle can go to the tryouts for the Superbowl halftime show. I have a hockey game in the afternoon as well.

I finally figured out what the Scroll-Lock key does. In Excel if a cell is highlighted and the Scroll-Lock key is pressed, then the arrow-keys move the entire spreadsheet around instead of moving from cell to cell.

This guy was too fat for the life support copter to airlift him out. He’s angry, because they wasted 20 minutes of his life. Well, I’ve got news for you buddy, if you hadn’t been obese, then you probably wouldn’t have had that heart attack in the first place!

Want to take your Rock, Paper, Scissors game to the next level? Here’s a competition with big prize money.

Here’s another case where what happens in the movies doesn’t work in real life.

Time waster.

Where’s Waldo?

Finally, here are a few Ultimate sites (parodies of this site: Sorority Girls | Black Mommas | Korean Guys

I don’t know what got into me last night, but when I woke up from my nap I was feeling really testy and ready to play hockey. I think it really became apparent when I got on the floor/ice. In the first game (floor), which wasn’t much of a game, I had a couple goals and a few assists. I say it wasn’t much of a game, because we clearly weren’t evenly matched up with the team we played. Evidently, there weren’t enough teams this season to fill out the usual three divisions, so they lumped everybody into one division. At the end of the game, the score was something like 7-0.

After floor hockey, I had a little time to come home and relax before my ice hockey game. By the time I left, I was pretty amped up again. I had a pretty solid game and gelled extremely well with my linemates. In fact, we scored all 6 of our goals (I had one and assisted on 3 or 4 of the other ones). At the end of the 3rd period, the score was 6-6, so we went into overtime. Again, our line had a couple really good chances, but it just wasn’t meant to be. With 52.5 seconds left, they scored the game-winning goal. Oh well.

Not sure what I’m doing tonight, but I’ll probably be going to bed early as I’m pretty tired. Today’s writeup is a bit shorter because I spent most of my free time rewriting the page to allow for streaming video. Enjoy.

For being a four-day affair, this week sure is dragging its heels. Today has been really slow around here, which is funny, because I’ve actually been pretty busy. Fortunately the monotony was broken up when I met Bill for lunch. We went to a Thai restaurant off Clairmont Mesa Blvd. The food was good and I now smell like a walking clove of garlic. Can’t wait to sweat that out later tonight. Speaking of, I have two hockey games tonight; Floor hockey at UCSD and then an ice hockey game later at UTC.

A couple people have inquired recently about my interest in hockey and why I play. Well, it’s certainly not because it snows here six months of the year and there is nothing else to do. I guess it all started back in high school. I was never involved in any school-sanctioned sports because I really didn’t have the build or interest in any of them at the time. In-line skates and street hockey equipment seemed to come about around the same time and a lot of my close friends bought into the scene (it’s really amazing how much the equipment has changed since then).

At any rate, before long, I too invested in the necessary pads and skates. We formed a team and would practice regularly after school. Thinking about it now, I’m sure we were quite a sight to see. Being that in-line skates were a brand new technology, coupled with the fact that none of us had ever tried to play hockey before, there was a lot of room for improvement. As bad as we were, it’s amazing that there were not more injuries (I can only think of a couple major incidents). Granted, at the time, I think I had a perpetual bruise on each hip from hitting the asphalt so many times. After a few months of practice, we decided to sign up for a league. I don’t think we won a single game that first season. But, we were having fun and kept playing regardless. I don’t remember exactly, but I think hockey quickly took a backseat once everyone started to get their driver’s licenses.

My interest in hockey was rekindled when I got to UCSD, however. Dana discovered that the Intramural sports department had a floor hockey league. If I remember correctly, my feelings were pretty hurt, as I wasn’t asked to play during my freshman year. I did start playing my sophomore year, though, and had a good time with it. Again, it was much like when we started playing roller hockey. We weren’t quite sure what was going on and I think we got blown out that first season. But, I stuck with it and continued to play throughout my stay at UCSD.

During the Fall ’99 quarter, I went to Dartmouth on an exchange program. It was there that I took an ice skating class for PE. I had such a good time in the class that I decided to buy ice hockey equipment as soon as I returned to San Diego. My first games on the ice were pretty ugly. I’m not sure if I ever touched the puck, but I know that my [hips, ass, elbows, back] got really familiar with the ice. For some reason, though, I got really into it and kept playing.

That was almost three years ago. My game still needs a lot of work, but looking back, I’m proud of the progress I’ve made. Save for Dana, everyone that I started playing with is no longer involved in the sport. To be honest, I would have picked myself as the least likely candidate to still be playing.

As for why I’m still playing today, I’m not sure exactly why. I’ve just grown to love the sport I guess. There is the thrill of flying down the ice, making a pretty play, muscling someone off the puck, being able to have total control on an uncontrollable surface, and of course, putting the puck in the back of the net. If nothing else, it serves as a great recreational release that constantly challenges me and keeps me in great shape.

It was a very thought provoking weekend for me. Friday night, Michelle and I went downtown to meet some family friends of mine (the Deschner’s). To start the night, we grabbed a round of drinks at Martini Ranch. Then, we headed over to Bandar for dinner. The food was excellent as always and everyone seemed to enjoy their dinner choices. After dinner, Michelle and I were pretty tired so we decided to call it a night.

Saturday, I went to the gym for a bit and then took care of some things around the house. In the evening, I went to meet the Deschner’s at Il Fornaio in Coronado. Michelle was busy studying, so she couldn’t make it. Dinner there was really good, as was the great view looking out on the city. Towards the end of dinner, we got involved in a fairly intense conversation regarding my life and growing up and the internal and external influences that helped to form my current personality. For me, it made me look at a lot of things from perspectives that I had never considered. It’s not that I’ve never explored these thoughts on my own, but for some reason, after our conversation, I was able to see things with a different clarity. I don’t really want to get into specifics here, because it would take many pages to cover the initial conversation and all of the afterthoughts that have come from it, but perhaps I will formulate a complete write-up.

After dinner, I went over to Michelle’s to meet up with her and a bunch of her friends to go to a Red, Red Wine party. The theme of the party being fairly obvious, but in addition, everyone was required to wear something red. Although early in the season, it certainly made for a festive evening. The rain put a minor damper on the evening, but it remained dry enough that we could congregate outside.

Sunday morning, Al and I made our usual trek to the bowling alley to practice for Monday night’s game. When we’d finished bowling, I finally got around to picking out the bowling ball that Michelle got me for my birthday. After bowling, Al and I met Michelle in Hillcrest for lunch. We ended up at an Afghani restaurant, whose food seemed very close to Indian. Everything was good though (like I say after virtually every restaurant review). Following lunch, Michelle left to go to a singing lesson while Al and I did a little vintage clothes shopping.

I was pretty tired after that, so I went home to take a nap. When I got up, Kevin and I went to see Comedian. The film is basically a documentary about the stand-up comedy industry and what the comedians have to go through to “make it.” More specifically, it follows Jerry Seinfeld as he makes his way through the creation of a stand-up routine. It also contrasts his methods and attitude with an up-and-coming comic. The film itself was pretty raw, but I still found it to be insightful and entertaining.

Monday was a very productive day for me. I was unaware that it was a university holiday until last week, so I didn’t have anything specific planned. Instead, I used it to catch up on a bunch of things that I had to do. I slept in until about 9:00, went to the gym, got home, changed my oil and spark plugs, showered, got a haircut, took my ice skates to get them refitted (the skate boot is heat moldable and it’s been bothering my heel lately), came back home, did some laundry and then met Al for bowling. We left for the rink a little early so that I could pick up my bowling ball (I had to leave it to get drilled and engraved) and try to squeeze a couple practice games in before the league bowling started. Well, the first time I threw the ball down the lane I got a strike, which will, hopefully, be a sign of things to come. After that first ball, however, I was struggling with throwing the ball and getting it to do what I wanted. When they turned the lanes off for the league bowling to start, I was feeling pretty uncomfortable with the new ball. I asked the captain of our team if he wanted me to use the new ball or continue using the old one until I got used to the new one. He said to go ahead and give the new one a shot and if it was hurting my score drastically after one game to go back to the old one. Well, for the first game, I threw a 77. That didn’t help my average, and it certainly wasn’t helping the team, so we decided that I should go back to the old ball for the remaining two games. That seemed to make the difference and I was back up around 140 for those games. Although we lost the first game, we won the remaining three (the fourth game is the total of the first three). Al was really solid in his third game and bowled a 146 (his league high score).

There isn’t anything in the works for tonight, which is just as well as I’m pretty tired. I’ll probably just head home and take a nap and then try to get together with Michelle later.

Probably not going to make an entry today, as I am really busy with a million other things.

Evidently Sushi Ota is the place to go for good sushi. I tried making reservations during the day and the only available slot they had was 8:30. Too late for Michelle and I, so I made dinner for her instead. This weekend I have some family friends in town, so I will probably try to get together with them tonight. Other than that, I’m not really sure what else is going on. I just found out that I have Monday off, so maybe I’ll use that day to get caught up on everything.

Update on the Southwest fiasco (Vegas trip): They sent me a couple of coupons and a detailed letter about their screw-up.

Tom Petty talks about giving the record companies the finger and having his songs banned from the radio.

Jackass related injury.

Troubled by slow downloads on your cable modem? You could always just Bar-B-Que it.

The NRA for Kids!

Last night was a great night. I got home from work and was able to relax for about 20 minutes before I had to leave again for floor hockey. I got to the game and only 3 other guys showed up (plus the goalie). The other team, on the other hand, had about 15 guys show up. We decided to give it a shot anyway. By the end of the first period, we were leading with two goals. Shortly after, another guy showed up so we had an even number of players on the floor. That only added fuel to the fire, as we started to really rack up goals. At the end of the game, we’d won 7-2. I had a couple nice goals, including one that I picked out of mid-air.

After the game, I met Al at the movie theater to see Jackass. Let me start off by saying that this was definitely one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. My cheeks were sore by the end from laughing so much. That said, there were some minor issues I had with the film. One thing I found kind of annoying was that the stunts involving places of business seemed more staged than the TV version; i.e. the store owners, etc. seemed to be in on the gags. Another thing that was kind of annoying was that the movie seemed less refined than the TV show, which seems backwards to me. I didn’t think I’d tire of the stunts, but both Al and I found ourselves a bit over stimulated towards the end of the movie. I guess there’s only so much Johnny Knoxville that one can take.

My final gripe with the film was the portion that took place in Japan (about a fourth of the gags were filmed there). I think it’s one thing to be a total moron in your own country and culture, but I found it insulting that these guys were pulling these stunts over there. I felt embarrassed at the way these idiots were representing their fellow Americans.

It will be interesting to see how many true “jackasses” end up in the emergency room in the coming months as they try to reenact some of the stunts in the movie.

I met Bill at the gym during lunch. It feels good to be able to workout again. Even better is that I'm trying to put on more mass right now for hockey so I'm trying to eat a lot more than I usually do. Which basically means that I'm allowing myself to eat things, in moderation, that I normally probably wouldn't.

Tonight, Michelle and I are going to go to dinner at Sushi Oto. We received a gift certificate from one of Michelle’s girlfriends, so tonight seemed like a good opportunity to use it.

Last night was pretty uneventful. I slept away most of the evening and finished the night off by helping Michelle put the final touches on her essays. After a month-plus hiatus, I finally made it back into the gym today. Hopefully, I won’t be affected by injury or illness again any time soon.

Tonight, I have a floor hockey game and then Al and I are going to see Jackass.

Linkage:
Don’t break his heart like the last girl.

Do you have issues with the fact that Subway now cuts their bread down the side as opposed to carving out the top like they used to? Well, this guy does.

Start your kid off on the path to a successful pimping career.

Who knew rocks could be so erotic?

Apparently you can’t tell your university administrators to fuck off in your thesis.

A seat in the House eludes The Dukes of Hazzard’s Cooter.

Finally, looks like they’re busting a lot of nuts at a automotive plant in Romania.

Thursday was the 2nd best Halloween to date (the first being the year of the Oompa Loompa). The theme this year was the Wizard of Oz. I dressed up as the Tinman, Kevin as the Scarecrow, Michelle as Dorothy and Al rounded out the group as the Lion (picture). One of my favorite parts of Halloween is creating my own costume. Most people think I’m crazy when they see the time and effort that I put into the construction of a costume, but I have yet to be disappointed by the results.

Everything came together with time to spare and Kevin, Al and I headed over to Michelle’s to pick her and Angelo up. The five of us then headed downtown, which I imagine was quite a sight to see (the Wizard of Oz on Wheels). When we got there, it almost felt as though I was wearing the Oompa Loompa costume again. We attracted quite a bit of attention; people stopped us on the street to take their pictures with us and praise our costumes. We were getting so much attention that we decided to just keep walking around instead of going to a club. As the night wore on, we decided to take it indoors and go to Axiom. When we got inside, the place was pretty dead. Which, in this case, was actually a good sign, because it improved our odds of winning the $1000 costume contest.

As the time passed, however, the club began to fill up. Evidently, those who were planning on entering the contest decided to wait until the last minute before making an appearance. Like Clinton in a strip club, the competition quickly stiffened. Finally, the DJ called everyone to line up for the contest. The first round involved about 60 entrants. We were in the middle of the pack, but received a pretty good response once we were on stage. When the last contestant made their way off the stage, the judges retired to narrow the field down.

The judges returned 15 minutes later with the top ten finalists. They got through about two-thirds of the list before they called our number. The four of us rushed over to the edge of the stage so that we could parade across for the next round. We were the 2nd to last group to go up, which I thought put us in a great position. When we got up on stage, each of us danced around a bit and tried to get the crowd behind us. Overall, we garnered a fair amount of applause. Again, the judges disappeared to deliberate for a bit before announcing the 3 finalists.

When they finally came back, they read off the three contestants. Sadly, the Wizard of Oz troupe was not among the chosen ones. Dejected and disappointed, we decided that we’d had enough of the club and made a hasty exit. Back on the street, we became the center of attention once again. Seemingly, Japanese tourists seemed to get the biggest kick out of our costumes.

We decided we’d had enough of downtown and decided to stop by a party thrown by a co-worker of mine on the way home. There were quite a few people at the party and we were a fairly big hit. It was getting late, though, and there wasn’t really much worth sticking around for, so we left soon after.

Because I was planning on going in late to work the following morning, I decided to just stay at Michelle’s for the night. It took about 30 minutes in the shower, but I was finally able to remove all of the silver from my face and hair. The next morning, Michelle was going to drop me off at my house so that I could change and go to work (I was without car and work clothes). I borrowed a T-shirt from her since the one I’d been wearing under my costume was covered in silver makeup. We arrived at my house, where I realized that to my horror, I didn’t have my keys (they were locked inside the house)! Weighing my options, I gave Kevin a call to see if he could meet me to let me in. He said that he could pick me up at lunch and let me in the house. This meant that I would have to have Michelle drop me off at the office wearing one of her T-shirts, shorts, and my silver shoes from the night before. Oh well, at least it was a casual Friday.

I tried not to leave my office for the entire morning and hoped that no one would come by for help. The only time I left all morning was to refill my water cup. Just as I walked past the door to one of the conference rooms, the all managers meeting adjourned. I was mortified as I saw all the higher-ups looking at me and my disheveled dress. I finally made it through lunch and Kevin came to pick me up. I changed into some presentable clothes and sat out the rest of the day in the office.

Friday night, Al showed up at my door wearing his lion costume. I didn’t have it in me to be the Tinman again, so I dressed up in my Marshall’s uniform. The two of us made our way over to Michelle’s to meet up with her and a bunch of other people. The agenda for the night was to make our way to a couple of costume parties. Angelo hosted the first party we went to. It was a pretty good scene, complete with DJ, dance floor and liquor luge (a huge block of ice that has a couple of paths carved out and shots of liquor are poured down them, chilling them before they reach someone’s mouth). We stayed there a couple of hours before heading over to Mike Creason’s Halloween party. It was good to see Mike again, as it had been a while. I also got to see some old friends from high school that I hadn’t seen in years. The others were getting tired, so we only stayed there for about an hour. We drove back to Angelo’s to finish off the party there and then took off for home.

Saturday, Michelle was feeling sick and wanted to work on her application essays, so I ran errands for the majority of the day. Saturday night I had a hockey game over in Mira Mesa. I really wasn’t in the mood to play a physical game (I was feeling kind of tired). Fortunately, the other team was short on players and we ran them ragged. I believe the final score was 9-2 and I had a couple of goals, so it was a good night.

Sunday, Kevin, Al and I got together to do some bowling in the morning. After bowling, Al and I went to a silkscreen printing party hosted by some friends of his. Following the party, I went over to Michelle’s to help read over her essays and give her feedback. Later, we went to Pizza Port for a goodbye dinner for one of Michelle’s good friends.

Monday was a pretty quiet day at work, but it flew by none-the-less. After work I had bowling. Nothing spectacular, in fact I’m not even sure I bowled my average. As soon as I was done bowling, I ran over to UTC to play some hockey. It was a pretty tough game, but we ended up losing 2-3.

Tonight I don’t really have anything planned, so I’ll probably just hang around the house. I’m considering seeing the movie, Comedian.

I didn't have time to finish my Halloween/weekend update today...look for it tomorrow!