Two things to not do.

#1. Be in San Diego and plan on going to your favorite Baseball team's final home game but at the last minute casually decide not to only to miss out on being a part of a sell out multitude of screaming fans watching Trevor Hoffman in the bottom of the ninth blow the cheese right past three Pirates to break the all time record with his 479th career save.

#2. Walk into the dog shelter/pound to look for a dog to buy just in time to see the lady behind the counter pulling a struggling dog away from it's teary-eyed owner who can't keep it because he's moving away.

Don't do either of those things.

On a more cheerful note, get a load of what my boss gave me today.



Yes sir, it's a 1980 Polaris Galaxy 340 Snowmobile. He said it would make his wife happy to have it out of his yard, and that was that. "Does it run?" you ask. It does indeed run. Like a champ. Well, almost.

Soy muy contento últimamente.

Things are looking up, and as a result I've been able to relax, and smile more. The VW went to the dealer for a new alternator, a new battery, and some new wires. I don't know what any of these wires do, I just know they weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing, hence the car was not working. Fortunately she is under warranty for another two years or twenty-five thousand miles, making all the repair free. So that's totally radical. But it doesn't stop there. I sent our water damaged ipods back East to a little company called Ipod Res-Q, and they fixed both of them. And that's awesomely badical! I also just got around to ordering a new battery charger for the D-Elph, and after charging it and turning it on I found a buttload of old photos that I forgot about. They will be on here next time. Belee dat.

This weekend we make way for sunny San Diego, where my Grandparents will celebrate their 50th with a straight up luau, where my Mother-In-Law will buy me belated birthday Levi's, and where I hope to buy a couple tickets to the Miramar Airshow. Well see about that one.

Lastly, I put up a classic on the other blog. Check it.

Until next time.

Drawn Into a Dark But Gentle World

All this thought about where to live lately makes the world seem so awesomely big. Right when I've got my mind set on Los Angeles a Wilco song comes over the headphones and I start thinking about Chicago, that is until a Yo La Tengo song gets me in the mood for the Northwest.

Food has been good to us lately. Onion bagels with cream cheese, cucumbers, smoked salmon, and black coffee for breakfast. Cotija cheese and corn tortilla quesadilla's topped with avocado and crema mexicana for lunch. And last night for dinner, pork loin rib chops seared with garlic and red wine, topped with Granny Smith apples and red onions sauteed in butter. And beer, with everything.

Lately I've been pulling out some books from my childhood, from an author who is probably more positively received by our blogosphere than other writers. His name is William B. "Bill" Watterson II, or simply Bill Watterson.



He's better known as the writer of "Calvin and Hobbes", a comic strip and book series that I've been reading since age nine, and lately, to the wife before bed to prevent nightmares. It's true. I adore these books more than most things, as well as the author for his goodness and taste in inspiration. He wrote a short piece for the L.A. Times in 1999, a few years after he quit, called "Drawn Into a Dark But Gentle World", in admiration of Charles Schulz as "Peanuts" was coming to an end. That, and he rules. It's because of him that my favorite jet was the F-4 Phantom, and that I was kicked out of Mr. Acoin's 5th grade class for drawing dinosaurs.

Man, Oh Man

So it's been a rough go these past couple of months. We are currently back at our home in Big Bear for as long as it takes. We had our sublet in Silverlake, which was very nice. Amber had a steady job in Pasadena. I landed a job with an architect, and was very excited. I had a great first day on the job. I returned to work my second day, to my boss telling me he doesn't have enough time to train me. There were some curse words floating through my head at the time, but I took a breath and went with, "Sail on silver girl. Sail on by." Acually I didn't, but that would have been good, right? So I spent some time at the library and the mac store, looking for jobs and houses. I picked up a couple tile jobs that helped out a great deal. Then we were off to the next sublet in Monrovia. While there we found a great place for rent. We applied for it and a few days later were told that after narrowing it down to us and another, he went with a more suitable fit. With time and money running out, we got a couple parking tickets, spilt water and broke both ipods, and returned to Big Bear with two broken cars, which brings us up to date.

I apologize for being a big fat farting baby about all this. Amber and I really did have a nice time making friends, learning things, and growing together. And we're not giving up. We just need to get a few items fixed up and payed off. But for now we're in Big Bear and it's autumn. The leaves are turning tone and the crisp air is beginning to bleed through our summer clothes. It's high time I pull out the old smoking jacket and vampire costume. Also, if anyone wants to come up and get some last minute fishing in, just holla.