Where in hell is the problem?

Again we apologize for sucking at blogging. This should be illegal. I don't know that it bothers anyone that much, but I do know that I hate it when I'm all into blogging and I go to check other peoples blogs and they keep saying the same thing. It really really sucks. So again, sorry.

A quick catch up of our month:
-We've been eating at home alot more, for reasons like money and health.
-I landscaped the backyard and we're ready to have a BBQ party.
-We need to have that party soon because we might move in July.
-We got caught up with Lost in time to watch the finale, which was crazy.
-We drove to the Bay Area for the Black wedding.
-We went to the Steinbeck Museum on the way home, which ruled.
-We stayed with the Talbots on the way home, which also ruled.
-I'm way way back into Roller Coaster Tycoon again, and Disc Golf.

We hope everyone is well, and we'll keep you posted on that BBQ party. Also, share with us your May highlights if you'd like.

On a whim

Have you ever been leafing through music at a record shop, bought something simply based on looks, and had it indeed be a good buy? Or a terrible mistake?

For example (Both in 2001):

Good buy: Sparklehorse - It's a Wonderful Life.
Result: Complete Satisfaction. Didn't leave stereo for one month. Still peaks it's head out for weeks at a time.

Bad buy: Dashboard Confessional - So Impossible EP.
Result: Ran around in circles screaming, beating self in forehead and chest. Two hours later, burnt it while crying.

not my achilles!

one of my co-workers tore a ligament in her achilles last tuesday. on saturday one of our clients had to go to the e.r. because her left ankle swelled up two sizes. why did it swell? somehow she damaged her achilles. i don't know what is going on, but i fear i may be next!-a

Sheeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

Evidently I have allergies. I've never had them before. I'm guessing that the Big Man was sitting around, kind of looking about on His shelf, and with me in mind He said, "Hmmmmm, lets seeeeeee, maybeeeeee... no. Hmmmmmmm, hooowwww aboooouuut... THIS!

I can't breathe through my nose and my eyes feel like they have cats stuck in them. I'm eating a T.V. dinner that I can neither taste nor smell. I take a big breath, then a bite, then I chew. I then open my mouth and breathe out, then chew some more, then swallow.

In other news, I was inspired today to buy a ring binded sketch book along with twelve Verithin prismacolor lead pencils. I want to start sketching again, and maybe if they don't suck really bad, just maybe, post a few.

Cool? Cool.

5/26/06

I can't wait for X-Men 3!!!! I love the Wolverine. He is a babe. I want to be the Phoenix or the Professor. Who do you want to be?-a

Sorry that we suck.

We've been slacking big time. And even after slacking this big time I still don't have much to say. How about an update? We're good. We bought new sheets and they rule. We watched Fargo and it made us feel wierd. We're excited for Spring and Summer. We go down the hill way way too often. We might be moving down the hill very soon. We might not. We got the Ipod tape thing for the car and the Ipod tv thing for the house. We got season two of Lost from the lovely Pattersons. We will watch it all tonight. We decided not to buy Bloodhounds. Trailor puked in my car. Buying gas blows my ass off. We want to hang out with everybody, and we should really get a camping trip together. Anyway, there's more, but that's about all for now. We hope everyone is great and that everyone does rad at every day life.

And if you'd like, name your favorite entertainment system, and then your favorite game on that system. Mine would be a tie between Intellivision's Dungeons and Dragons and Original Nintendo's Captain Skyhawk. Do two if you want.

no joke

Ann Lynn has a meeting with MTV today. Nobody is sure what the meeting is about, but it's exciting nonetheless. They got a hold of the EP and called Josh up and asked to meet with the band. While the boys are having their fancy meeting, Andrea and I are going to 3rd street in Santa Monica to shop. Wish all of us well!
p.s. They have a show at the Lava Lounge on Thursday night that is going to be fun. Come on out! -a

disappointed

i just ate a really disgusting hamburger. i hate it. i threw most of the stupid thing away. i can't leave work for lunch today so matt said he would bring me something. i really wanted a meatball sandwich but the stupid meatball sandwich place wasn't open yet. so i settled for a burger from this place called bjs. not bjs the pizza place that they have "down the hill". that place has good food. this is a different bjs and their hamburgers suck. matt will disagree with me, but i'm telling you, they suck. matt had suggested that i get a hot dog from circle k and now i wish i would have. it definately would have been better than that stupid disgusting hamburger! all this to say, i'm going back to eating pizza three meals a day. pizza has yet to let me down.

On the brighter side of things.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching an old toothless couple eat McDonald's Baked Apple Pies.

Good Afternoon, Welcome to Big Bear.

When I'm not drafting or building or maintaining, I'm in the vacation business, or the travel business if you will. I take reservations, book rooms, check in guests, as well as give recommendations for ski rentals and restaraunts and hiking trails. Usually I hate this very much. It's not easy being surrounded by people who are fresh on holiday, excited about buying souvenirs and sleeping in and drinking cosmopolitans. However I've found that with a little effort and a slight adjustment in attitude, my position here can be quite enjoyable. It's a lot like what I imagine Christmas as a father would be like. For example, it's not about you as it is about them. You've had your turn, or will soon. You're in control of first impressions. You set the mood. You can sneak off to the kitchen for a quick brandy blazer and be back before the kids put the batteries into Teddy Ruxpin.
So I don't know if battery operated talking bears have much to do with it, but other than that this is how I feel. Check in day is like Christmas. Our customers are like children. I'm the first person they see. I set the mood. I give them things, not gifts, but room keys and maps, and I send them off in the right direction.
I like to think that I'm a significant part of these peoples time away from home. I like to think that I just might play a role in helping them enjoy their vacation that much more. I like to think that even though I would rather be on vacation, while I'm not, I will do what I can to be a part of or as close to the active remains of the worlds community of travelers.

memory

a few winters ago, when i lived by myself above the liquor store and rosie and suzanne lived in "the slum", suzanne and i had nothing to do. as on most occasions when we have nothing to do we found ourselves at teddy bear drinking coffee. after several hours we had consumed an absurd amount of coffee, were much too hyper for our own good, and reverted back to jr. high and thought it would be a lot of fun to walk to k-mart. we took a cup of coffee to go and began the three-mile walk in the freezing cold snow. about, oh, ten minutes into the walk we realized that this was a dumb idea, not fun at all, and that k-mart was much farther than we thought it was. in order to make the time go by faster and distract us from the cold we decided to sing every song that we knew by heart, starting with bohemian rhapsody. we had so much fun with that one that we switched gears and decided to quote wayne's world in its entirety (we rule at this, by the way). we were part way through when we arrived at k-mart, which was closed, and started making calls for someone to pick us up so we wouldn't have to walk back to teddy bear where my car was parked. we couldn't get a hold of anyone, but we still had wayne's world so we started the walk home. we were in the middle of "did you find bugs bunny attractive in a dress playing a girl bunny?" when we noticed that there was a group of shady looking guys walking behind us. fifteen minutes later they were still behind us and we started to get worried. we started imagining all the things they might do to us. like kidnap us or shank our achilles. we started to get angry, "who do they think they are? they can't mess with us." we formed a plan. if they tried anything we would go completely nuts, we would be a fury of teeth and nails. we got really worked up and brave until we passed through a section of the street with no lights and it seemed very very dark. we lost all our gumption and started running, yelling "no, not my achilles! anything but my achilles!" looking back, i don't think those guys were following us at all and probably thought we were complete freak shows. but that night forever solidified our fear of getting shanked in the achilles.

still?

it snowed six inches last night and it's still coming. i'm annoyed. it's freezing. i don't have any snow boots because three months ago it didn't look like i would need them. i like winter, i like all of the seasons. i love the snow and i love bundling up. but i like these things at their proper time. the appropriate time for snow and winter is from november to the begining of march. sometimes it creeps in a little early in october, that's ok. but this is silly. it's april for god's sake. this isn't alaska, this is southern california! this year in november, december, january, and even february: no snow. in fact, it was kind of warm. no winter like behavior. march rolls around and suddenly winter decides to show up. well i say, you had your chance winter. make room for spring. i want to wear cute shoes. anyway, if this nonsense keeps up through may i'm getting out of here. hey talbots, how is the weather in ventura? can matt and i share a room with ewan?

it's not just the ill timed weather that's getting me down. i just finished reading "gone with the wind" and it's got me in a funk. matt tried to tell me that it's just a book and the people aren't real so i shouldn't get upset. i can't help it. i have to take a little break before i start something else. any suggestions of something to read that is not so emotionally taxing?-a

Good Days of Old

This morning I stood in the shower for probably fourty five minutes, soaking up the hot water, staring at the floor, and reflecting on some good days of the past. I noticed that these good days, for me, all encompass the same qualities. For example, these days usually begin fairly early in the morning. They usually take place in nice weather. They are most often experienced outdoors. They don't fall on or around a work day. And among other things, there is no serious responsibility involved. That is the way life should be lived.

1989: We spent the evening at The Conastoga Hotel playing in the pool and listing off, in order, which rides we were going on the next day. Splash Mountain had just opened. Star Tours was new. I bought a jaw-breaker the size of my head, and licked it three times a day for the next seven years.

1992: After a big day at summer camp I came home to find a Hawaiian Luau Birthday party waiting for me. All my friends were present, including Derek, Josh, Seth, Steve, Chad, and Danny. That night we watched Stand By Me, and then I beat Chad at Blades of Steal.

1997: Last day of my sophmore year. We ditched and went out to the rocks, where we jumped in the lake, lounged in the sun, drank Cactus Cooler, and listened to NOFX until nightfall.

1999: We went to the Heule's cabin on the edge of Zion in Utah. We had an early breakfast at a local ranch, rode horseback through the hills, had lunch on the trail, headed back to the ranch for a climbing wall, took a dip in the pool, played paintball, rode quads through the desert at sunset, and went back to the cabin to shoot rifles and skewer up shish-kebabs

2001: Derek and I were in the middle of a backpacking trip down the coast of California, just north of Santa Cruz, when we decided to mellow out for the day and find a place to sleep. We found a thicket of bushes with a cave like grotto inside, where we set camp. We sat on the edge of the cliff to share a few cigarettes and watch the sun go down. Then we gathered driftwood, had a fire, and ate ramen noodles with salami.

2004: Honeymooning on Oahu. We were up at dawn to rent a car and explore the island. We traveled up the east shore, had lunch on a Macadamia farm, snorkled with sea turtles in a shallow lagoon, leaned into the wind at Nu'uanu Pali, ate "shave" ice on the north shore, hiked the jungle to swim Waimea Falls, and made it back to Waikiki by evening for lobster and coctails.

These were good days. What do we have to do experience more days like this, together, and soon?

Dork

I made one. Don't read it, unless your a dork too.

Who wants to set up a Spring beach camping trip with us?

Nerd

Lately I've developed a fascination with nerdy things. Things that are not nerdy at the surface, but become sometimes very nerdy when i give them the amount of attention that I have been giving them, or desire from them the amount of knowledge that I've been desiring from them.
For example: Polynesian history, zoology and paleozoology, capitalism, model railroads, architecture and the American arts and crafts movement, linguistics, and cartography to name a few.
It's strange, this transformation from the young, social, on the go, pursuer of all things hip, to the not as young, lazy, introvert, beer drinker who shops for globes at thrift stores.
Apparently we grow up.
All this to say the doors of curiosity have been re-opened to one of my personal favorite nerdy things.
Disney.
I am hot on the trail of the history of Disney. The channel, the hotel, the world, and most importantly the man, and the land.
We went to Disneyland yesterday. Everything was dressed up in celebration of the 50th year anniversary. I have always loved Disneyland. Who wouldn't. Acually, I know some who don't. Morons. I have been a pass holder a few times, I have gone many times, and I have set a true affection on that park. Throughout my years of going to Disneyland I have become somewhat of a purist. For example, I wanted to burn down Tarzan's climb when it replaced the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. I wept when The Country Bear Jamboree became The Many Adventures of Whinnie the Pooh. And a fire was lit in my heart yesterday when I saw that the little catfish place on the Rivers of America had become a McDonalds french fry and coke stand. These things are crimes. These things make little kids fat. These things make me sad.
There are so many things I would like to touch on. I may even start a Disneyland blog. For now, I'll read what Al Lutz has to say.
My question to you is this:
Stick with and fix up what the people know and love? Or, out with the old in with the new?

In U, S, and A

Very rich people like to drink 'a wine.

Moving on. I've been back at Double E Design two days a week, and it's been very good to me. On days like today I'm reminded of the reasons why I do want to pursue this trade, which are: the artistic expression, the creative freedom (for the most part), and the 1/2 office to 1/2 field time ratio, among other things. Some days I'm at the drafting table, with talk radio and a pot of coffee. Some days I'm measuring up a sunny job in the field, then plopping down on a pile of sawdust to enjoy a ham sandwich with a mexican framer.
Today I was on a new addition marking walls and shooting grades for an As Built. The client was dishing me up some tea and ginger snaps when I took a laid-back gander around the room and thought to myself, "I just might be able to do this".
Nonetheless an occasional day creeps into the mix where I grow frightened, mislaid, and confused. Yet every new day is just that, a new day. I read it put best by a fellow blogger (Mr. Hamilton) this morning, "I'm not stuck with any one profession".
I'll raise a glass to that.

In our Headlines:
My car is back, rip roarin' with her new tranny.
We will say goodbye to Ol' Yeller, but she's getting her very own blog farewell, coming soon (sniff, sniff).
Supper Club weekend. Food. Wine. Beer. Port. Snow.
My wife reads much more than I do. Her book is featured here.
I am a Nicolas Cage fan.

Nashville Trip

On the second of March Amber and I along with a couple friends made our way out to Nashville Tennessee to visit The Colour boys, who were in town to make a record, as well as to see some sights. Here are a few photos from our time.

On the plane. Two books, one ipod, one crossword puzzle, two and a half packs of peanuts, three bud lights, one bloody mary, two games of hold 'em, and a bag of swedish fish.


It does indeed exist.


A long game of Kings Cup back at the house.


Heading out for a day on the town.


Steven M. Black. 2nd St. Downtown Nashville.


Momma and I at the Opry


The Members Only Blues


That's Amber, and that's the CMT building in the distance.
Country Music Television Y'all!


Wonderin' back home. I enjoy this photo.


Derek was happy to see us. This is at The Mellow Mushroom,
a.k.a. The Best Damned Pizza in the South.


This is Wyatt throwing a bowling ball mach 3. This bowling alley was in the boons, about 45 minutes east of the city. We saw true Heshins.


This is one of the few photos I have of the house we stayed in, which upsets me. This house is lovely, 101 years old, original wood floors, fireplaces in every room, huge front veranda, rocking chairs, and located in the Historical District no less.


Here is a before photo of mine and Derek's home-made backyard firepit.


And after. Many a good late night talk was had here.
One of my favorite parts of the trip.


Here we are having a down right rocking chair ho-down,
singin' The Ashtray Blues


Davey, sad to see us go.


Dirty, catching Z's on the way home.


It was a great time.
Items not shown but worthy of mention:
-Nate, he was there too, I promise.
-The phrase, "Get stoked, and get awesome!"
-Brass Monkeys, 1 40 O.E. with 1 cup O.J.
-Catfish Tacos at Judge Bean's.
-Tequila shots with Kings of Leon.
-Derek's beautiful, clean, fresh, bedroom.
-Riding Deeptank with Sean.
-Bongo Java.
-The black lady on the bus.
-Bar fight over Sean's hat.
-Wussy band kids out-numbering tough guy frat boys.
-and
-Coming home to three feet of snow.

We'all back Y'all!

We had a lot of fun in the South. There are many stories that deserve the accompaniment of some photography, so I will get on that soon. The photo hosting deal that I'm using takes too damn long. For now I must say this, "Nashville? More like Smashville! AAAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHA HA HA HA o.k.

Here's one from the weekend before, to hold y'all over.
It's entitled "Born to be Wild".

nashville rules!

we're having an amazing time! when we get back i'll elaborate and post some pictures. but for now i need some advice. nate's sister is here visiting and she is going to give haircuts tomorrow. should i cut my hair? so far i've been told that i should cut some long bangs. i'm scared of bangs and of cutting my hair in general (you all remember the fred savage cut of 99?), but i feel i need a change. please give me some suggestions...-a

this is funny