Pending Sobriety

Big Boy Bed!

2011-06-17T06:40:00.001-07:00

During all the Memorial Day department store sales, Alyssa and I decided to finally buy a nice bed to go with our nice mattress and bedding. We got a really good deal on it, though some assembly was required. The one we ordered was supposedly "khaki" colored, though when it arrived it seemed much more brown than tan. Which actually worked out considering we have tan walls. Obviously, we weren't really considering that when we chose a color for the bed.

Here it is, completed!

Mom's Day BBQ

2011-05-14T08:27:00.001-07:00

Alyssa and I chose Mother's Day as the first holiday we hosted at our home. We had the parents and siblings over as well as the grandparents. It was a slightly cool and windy day but the sun fought through the clouds enough to keep us reasonably warm. There was an obscene amount of food; hot links, hot dogs, and bell peppers and onions off the BBQ as well as a pasta salad, Christi's potato salad and cheese plate and Alyssa's THREE homemade desserts (lemon sorbet, vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, and homemade oreo's). Calling them oreo's is selling them short though, they were delicious!
I'd show you all the fabulous pictures we took of everyone having a great time as well as all the delicious food but we didn't take any pictures. Oh well, there's always next year.

Like Clockwork

2011-03-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Our movie watching is flying along at a breakneck pace, which can be frustrating if a particular film requires in depth analysis or a little time to percolate in your brain. But in the case of "A Clockwork Orange" it's a good thing! Neither Alyssa or I particularly wanted to dwell on this one. As a warning against a future dystopian society it is heavy handed at best, and ridiculous at worst, though its central theme does have some pertinence in today's society.

Ultimately the movie tries to follow in the novel's footsteps by asking its audience, "to what point will we sacrifice our free will for the good of society" and in a post-9/11 world, that is a question many people struggle with today. But the way the movie went about it, in contrast to the novel to my recollection, was just so over the top that you couldn't help but feel that ultimately the criminal got exactly what he deserved, side effects and all. I don't know if Alex is meant to be a sympathetic figure, but he certainly doesn't come off that way. I suppose the theme could also be that society clamoring for the defense of irredeemable criminals helps the irredeemable get off easy, but either way the message is muddled and poorly executed. Alyssa HATED the film, shocking, I know, considering its overall message and individual scenes.

I can't really recommend this to anyone, and the author's feelings of the adaptation seem to back that up.

From the novel's Wikipedia page; "The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me till I die."

To sum it up, don't bother with the film, read the book if you'd like an interesting thought experiment. Funny how often that sentence applies!

Cupcakes!

2011-03-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

Alyssa made some delicious Lemon cupcakes using a cupcake mix from Sprinkles yesterday. She made some homemade lemon butter cream frosting to top them with and then used Sprinkles' hard sugar candy bits to jazz them up. As I said, they were delicious! I had two, one before dinner and one after, but Josh, Megan and Alyssa all had one as well. So far as I could tell they enjoyed them also. Thanks to Grandma Pat for the Christmas present of the cupcake mix to Alyssa.

Saving Private Ryan

2011-03-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

Almost three years exactly from starting the process, Alyssa and I have watched 30 movies of the top 100 with our viewing of "Saving Private Ryan" Saturday night. Yet another classic that Alyssa hadn't seen, and yet another movie that she has no interest in seeing again. I remember when the movie first came out there was a backlash about the intensity of the violence in it, though Spielberg defended it by saying he had intended to make it as realistic as possible. I understand and appreciate his claim, but there were definitely sections of action sequences that seemed gratuitous in the degree of violence shown onscreen. Unfortunately that led to Alyssa ignoring a large potion of the movie due to its graphic nature.
Fortunately for her there was also enough eye candy onscreen to keep her interested. Matt Damon, Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi and other young actors of the time were scattered throughout, not to mention Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Ted Danson and Paul Giamatti. The amount of talent featured was impressive. There are some really well done parts, simple and elegant, the reaction of Ryan's squad when Private Ryan is told of the loss of his three brothers, and Ryan's monologue on what to tell his mother if he also dies. The brotherhood among these men that led Spielberg and Hanks to go on to produce "Band of Brothers" is pretty obvious here as well.

Shawshank

2011-03-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

Yay! Another movie knocked out! Actually we finished "The Shawshank Redemption" about a month ago but with Brian's Vegas trip, hanging with the Lacks and cleaning out our office of literally half the stuff we had in there, I hadn't had an opportunity to update. I love this movie, obviously the way Andy is treated by Bogs and his boys early on is enough to make you sick, but ultimately it's a story about the indomitable human spirit, and bromance.

It was Alyssa's first time seeing this movie and though she enjoyed it immensely it's another of the "I won't watch that again" types. Unfortunately, the whole damn thing has to be happy and not deal with anything somewhat depressing or dark for her to be willing to give it a second viewing. I'm not looking forward to her reaction to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

Butch & Sundance

2011-02-18T17:51:00.000-08:00

Our month of movies continued last night when Alyssa and I finished yet another film off of the top 100, #73 "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid" starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It has a lot of wonderfully comedic parts, including the one pictured, in which Newman's Cassidy convinces Redford's Kid that jumping off of the cliff they are sitting on will help them to elude their chasers. The Sundance Kid is hesitant and explains his hesitance by revealing that he can't swim, to which Butch replies, "Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you!"
The film is full of moments showing Sundance's easy going nature and willingness to follow Butch, regardless of the many times Butch leads them astray. The natural chemistry of the two leads makes their camaraderie on screen so easy to believe and inevitably leads to the audience rooting for the outlaws.
A couple facets of the film that were particularly memorable/interesting to me were the fact that Butch had to go to the lawful side of things to kill someone (as a payroll guard for a Bolivian mine), and the steadfastness with which they were pursued by the railroad owner's posse of bad ass lawmen.
Ultimately it is a thoroughly enjoyable film with one huge exception for me, the music! The music by and large was awful, both in its quality and in the way it was used in the film. There are a few ridiculous scenes, including an extended bicycle scene that are just made significantly worse by the choice of music in them. The most frustrating part of these scenes is the films great use of silence in other areas. Anyhow, at this point I'm picking nits so I'll close by saying we loved it!

Hello Clarice!

2011-02-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

The Silence of the Lambs is scary, also it's considered one of the greatest American films of the last 100 years. And Alyssa and I watched it Friday. Sir Anthony Hopkins is brilliant as the psychopath Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster really shows some acting chops in not being blown off the screen by him. There are definitely a few cringe worthy scenes, both gross parts and violent parts, but a really well done film overall that almost has you respecting "Hannibal the Cannibal" by the end. Alyssa watched the second half crammed in between me and the couch, alternating between watching and covering her eyes. She likes scary movies not at all. The last month has been really good for our progress on this list and hopefully we can continue with our one a week pace for a while, next up Redford and Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Horatio's with Grandma

2011-02-10T17:42:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful weekend in Carmel with the Lacks, Alyssa and I ran over to Horatio's at the San Leandro Marina to take out Grandma Pat for her birthday, which happened in October. Sorry Gram! Anyhow, the food was great and the company better. I got a steak and potatoes dish, Alyssa a salmon and risotto, and Grandma got everything else on the menu. Not really it just looked that way when the food arrived. Her full rack of ribs came with sweet potato fries, a gravy boat full of BBQ sauce, chipotle cole slaw, and some baked Mac and cheese. She was a very gracious belated birthday girl though and insisted on sharing. We love you grandma!

Sidney Poitier, Man, Myth, Legend

2011-02-01T16:31:00.000-08:00

Alyssa and I watched "In the Heat of the Night" yesterday, which has to be my second favorite Poitier film, behind "Guess Who's coming to Dinner". Two scenes in particular resonate with me. The first when the chief asks Virgil Tibbs what they call him where he comes from, and he responds, with righteous indignation, "They call me Mr. Tibbs!" and the second when he slaps the rich fat cat back after being slapped himself. Both scenes were enough to give me chills. It's also nice to see the evolution of the chief as he begins to understand Virgil's value both in general and regarding the murder case he's assisting on. Anyhow, great movie.

Can't Sit Here!

2011-01-24T18:50:00.000-08:00

Alyssa and I knocked Forrest Gump off of our movie list yesterday. I still love it. The music is great and the stories are really well told and acted. I'm assuming everyone has already seen this movie so a plot synopsis isn't really necessary, but it is well worth a rewatch if you haven't seen it recently. And that's all I have to say about that.

I Am Not A Crook!

2010-12-11T09:56:00.001-08:00

Alyssa and I knocked out another film off the Top 100 list. All the President's Men with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. I was commenting to Alyssa that the plot seems straight out of a spy novel or a 24 episode; a paranoid, delusional, power hungry President embezzles money out of campaign funds to hire ex-CIA operatives to spy on the competition. But wait, it actually happened! The American public chose to elect this guy twice! Granted, the level of Nixon's involvement was debatable, but the fact that he resigned before he could be impeached and then stripped of the Presidency speaks volumes.
I also enjoyed the initial skepticism of the national press towards the Post, that only intensified until the facts became public knowledge. The ending was somewhat abrupt but the film was well done and the fact that most of the stuff in the movie actually happened made it all the more interesting to me.

Christmas Time!!

2010-12-05T16:21:00.000-08:00

Alyssa and I had finally gotten an opportunity to settle into a nice little routine around here when the holidays came up and smacked us upside the head. Halloween quickly changed into Harvest time which was followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas all around us. But with the changing of the seasons we also get our first chance to do these things as husband and wife.

Saturday we knocked off two firsts, picking out our first Christmas tree together and going to our first Tree Lighting Ceremony (as husband and wife anyway, Alyssa loves tree lighting ceremonies so we had gone to a few before we got hitched) with the Lacks.

Needless to say, both firsts were wonderful. We love the pageantry of Christmas and the good feelings all around. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Modern Times

2010-09-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

Modern Times, in case you didn't know, is a Charlie Chaplin film, and number 78 on our top 100 movie list. It was actually decent, considering it was a 74 year old silent movie with outdated crap humor. One interesting thing that Alyssa and I noticed was the obvious age difference between the main characters. Charlie is probably 40 something when this film was made and his love interest was supposed to be a "juvenile" which means what, 16? Creepy. In reality, the actor and actress were only 21 years apart. And apparently they had an off screen relationship as well. And Chaplin married an 18 year old when he was 54, and had 7 kids with her, all of whom are still alive. Crazy. Unless you have a lot of time to kill I suggest you stay away from the Charles Chaplin wiki link, because it will suck you in. In any case, another one down, next up "All The President's Men".

Painting Days

2010-09-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

From the moment I bought this house, Alyssa hasn't really liked the paint. It was poorly done originally, wasn't finished in certain areas and was just a peachy orange sherbet type color, which neither one of us was a big fan of. Before we got married she decided to paint the main ceiling in the open entryway, living room and hallway areas to cover up the three different colors of paint with a nice plain white.

Friday she painted the ceiling in our bedroom and today we went on down to Home Depot to pick out our wall paint for the bedroom. And then "we" painted. I hate to paint so she did 90% of the work, I just helped tie in the ceiling, which I can reach without a ladder, and helped tape the trim pieces. And I helped with the touch up work. Anyhow, it turned out great. We were trying for a sandy brownish color and it ended up pretty close to what we were looking for. It might be a little more green than we anticipated but it still looks fabulous and new.

We've also been upgrading the furniture and rearranging the living room. Alyssa and I had our eyes on a three piece sectional couch for literally years, my Nana has the same one so I knew it was comfy and we both like the way it looks. It barely fits in the room, but it actually makes our itty, bitty living room seem larger now that there is a place for more than two people to sit.

And I had been putting furniture together for weeks after the honeymoon, but it has calmed down a lot as we become settled. I'm particularly happy with the TV stand/dual bookcase combo. My side has all of my DVDs and her side has all of her library books. The house has truly become our home, and it's a great thing to experience! (that's me looking great, and topless, in the reflection of the television)

Two Plus Two

2010-08-21T06:59:00.000-07:00

Alyssa and I have now been married for two months and two days, and I must say it has been completely incredible. She has completely blown my mind. She gets up with me at 6 every morning, makes my lunch, makes me coffee, and sends me off with a smile and a kiss (or two). She makes dinner every night the two of us are at home, and typically does an incredible job. She's trying new recipes, experimenting with things we know we like and truly being the most amazing housewife ever!

I told her when I came home from my first day of work after the honeymoon, and she greeted me with a full glass of ice water and a bowl of fresh made guacamole that her performance as my wife so far was not only much more than I expected but also significantly more than I needed. Well so far as I can tell, she's only getting better and better as time goes on.

Here's a little taste of our nights in Paris on the honeymoon. This is looking at the back of Notre Dame from the East on the bridge in between Ile St. Louis and Ile de la Cite or something like that. (French spelling is definitely not my strongest academic discipline.)

The Apartment

2010-08-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

Alyssa and I got through our 21st film of the AFI top 100 on Saturday, "The Apartment" starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. I enjoyed it, Alyssa had seen it previously and wasn't interested in paying complete attention to it, due to its less than uplifting story. Essentially, Jack Lemmon is a pushover, he takes a bunch of crap for an extended period of time before he realizes, screw it, it just isn't worth it. Shirley is the love interest, and wow, I have to say, you can see the much, much older, Shirley MacLaine in the young, beautiful elevator operator, and she really has aged very well. It's nice to see the young woman be improved by age.
And that's all I have to say about that.

Quick Catch Up

2010-08-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Sooooo... It's been a while but I thought I'd take a quick second and update the movie list. We watched "Spartacus" a week or so ago. It was blah, though seeing Kirk Douglas as a bad ass was interesting considering I'm most used to seeing him as a decrepit old man at The Oscars. We barely even watched it. Oh well.
I've been trying to consider the reason certain films have been included in this list, like the silent movie we watched the other day. Or the other month really, we're kind of slow. Anyway, at the time "Spartacus" was released, it probably blew people's minds the same way "Jurassic Park" or even more recently "Avatar" did. Which is great, but forty years from now "Jurassic Park", in my opinion, will still be appreciated for the original, interesting and entertaining story, as well as the great acting by the old dude that played Santa in Miracle on 34th Street (the remake). But "Avatar" and so far as I'm concerned, "Spartacus" just don't have that staying power. Though the blood, sex, blood, sex and sex "Spartacus" television show on Starz would argue that.
Epic storytelling is great, in every medium, if it is interesting, and original, and entertaining. When it is lacking (for my one regular reader) one or more of those elements it will fail to stand up to the test of time.
Perhaps my generation, myself included, is used to a faster pace or a story that doesn't seem so unnecessarily drawn out. Or we just don't have the patience to stick with a 3.5 hour long movie. Though I've watched "Dances With Wolves" multiple times without any problems. "Spartacus" did nothing to pull me in to the viewing experience, which is a shame because there really is a decent story to be told there.
"Spartacus" gets 2 thumbs down from Alyssa and I, or at least 2 thumbs sideways. We didn't hate it, we just didn't care.

Anyway, the point of this post was to mention the movie and to let any readers I may have out there that I know it has been a while and yes, I do intend to continue blogging here. I need to let all the stuff from the wedding and honeymoon sink in a little bit, not to mention actually upload pictures to the computer before I can blog about it.
So when we get really settled in, I can start working on those types of things rather than building Target furniture, which we love, and hanging pictures, which I don't love, though I do love seeing them on the wall. Unfortunately, moving in and becoming settled takes a while, so just keep on waiting. As much as I love typing and telling about myself, ultimately life is more important, especially when I have such a lovely, wonderful, beautiful, intelligent, gorgeous, hardworking new wife to share it with!

The Honeymoon Begins

2010-06-23T06:16:00.000-07:00

After one hell of a tiring trip to Paris, Alyssa and I have begun to settle in nicely. Today we went to Notre Dame and wandered around the interior of the church, we will be returning after the US vs. Algeria soccer game to wander around the Bell Towers. In the meantime, we've treated ourselves to a fine Parisian lunch at our little apartment, emphasis on little. There is an annoying little dog yapping occasionally downstairs but for the most part it has been wonderful! Much love from Paris!

Home Improvement!

2010-06-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

No, not the tv show, Alyssa and I have been doing some serious upgrades around here. First, Josh and I decided to redo the floors in the bathrooms. We ripped out the very old looking linoleum and threw in some nice tile floor. Then, because Alyssa is going to move in soon and has always hated our sink, I replaced the kitchen sink for her. After that she took it upon herself to paint the ceiling, with help from her mom and bro. And on Saturday, while she was out getting crazy at her bachelorette party, I put together one of her Christmas gifts. I know Christmas was six months ago but she didn't want me installing a shelf and bench combo while I had roommates. I guess she didn't think Josh and Vorp would appreciate it as much. Anyhow, to offset all that domesticating I went ahead and got a new beer fridge from my work. Alyssa loves it (not at all) but she said I can decorate the garage since she is taking care of every other aspect of personalizing our home. Also, I have less than two weeks until I'm married, and I have all of fifteen days until I land in Paris! We are both very, very, ready.

"Sunrise" Live Diary

2010-05-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

Sunrise is a 1927 silent film, Alyssa and I haven't exactly been looking forward to it. Though I'm willing to bet I get a couple more "I love that dress" comments from her.

As a side note before we get started, has anyone ever explored the idea of cutting a new sound track over silent movies? Actually writing some dialogue? Or would that be too much of a betrayal of the original intent of the film?

On with the show!

3:30 This is miserable! There is a reason we stopped making these.

4:22 "Woman of the City" is 1920's speak for "tramp" apparently.

5:30 I'm trying to remain openminded and everything but really i just want it to be over.

6:40 Wow! a silent whistle.

7:25 I'm sure I'll get little argument on this but, ultimately, it is the man's fault, not the homewrecker's if there is cheating going on. Or the woman's fault if the roles are reversed

9:30 It's interesting to me that the written words look like somebody took a crayon to the screen.

12:35 Cheater! Out with the woman of the city while your wife and baby sit home alone.

14:00 "Couldn't she get drowned?" damn, that tramp is ruthless.

16:00 Alyssa and I are both trying to talk ourselves into 2x speed the rest of the way.

17:00 Wow, it looks like she's convinced him to kill his wife.

18:20 I actually got "Jaws" music this time.

18:40 Nice cinematography and good call by Alyssa, the pure innocent wife and mother is bathed in light while her adulterous husband creeps up in the dark.

20:40 Amazing that his wife takes care of him even after he's running around on her.

24:00 So sad. This guy is really creepy.

25:00 The dog knew, always gotta listen to your animals.

26:45 Wow, dog came for her.

28:30 Really, really ready for this to be over.

30:00 I think she's starting to get the drift.

31:00 Straight up frankenstein guy. Very creepy.

31:30 I guess he couldn't do it.

32:30 "Don't be afraid of me." (even though i very nearly tried to drown you five minutes ago)

36:00 Gosh women put up with a lot of bullshit back in the day.

37:00 His wife is supposed to be some sympathetic figure. I think she's just pathetic. Leave his sorry ass already.

38:30 Maybe it is because the film is black and white but his wedding band really sticks out on screen.

39:35 Ohhhh, I take it all back, he got her flowers! What a nice guy. He's really sorry about the almost murdering her thing.

41:15 A wedding, reminding them of their young and happy days. Maybe he was wrong in trying to kill her, but surely it isn't too late for redemption.

42:50 Personally, after the attempted murder he's irredeemable. Alyssa agrees. Such a good example of the mentality of men towards women back then. He can do anything, and a good wife will always take him back. Screw that, how about some personal accountability? Don't be a complete and total D-bag in the first place and you won't need to tearfully beg and moan for forgiveness.

47:00 apparently she's forgotten that 20 minutes ago he was going to kill her.

And I stopped watching for a while, did some laundry and took a catnap.

Essentially, he remembers why he married her in the first place, she forgets that he tried to kill her, they fall back in love, she almost drowns on the way back, he thinks she did, he goes crazy, she gets found, he gets happy.
Finis

Titanic Two

2010-05-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

Starting this 1:35 in.

1:35 wow! nice starting point. Steamy windows and mostly naked people.

1:37 Not to make a gross generalization but Women have the most backasswards logic. It doesn't make any sense, that's how i know it's right.

1:39 a huge ship can't exactly make sharp turns.

1:40 That's one mean looking iceberg.

1:41 uhoh. lot o' water pouring in.

1:42 I would not want to be the poor guy stuck in the engine room filling with seawater while the doors closed.

1:44 Billy Zane still a jerk.

1:47 The dumbfounded looks on the Captain et al. when informed of the certainty of sinking is priceless.

1:51 Damn engineers! Going around telling people the ship will sink then saying not to panic.

1:52 Ehhhh. 1 hour until sinking + 4 hours until rescue + 28 degree water = bad situation.

1:54 Nice four piece band playing during the evacuation.

1:55 Let's lock the second class citizens into their area until we get the first class folks off first. so nice.

1:57 Kate "You unimaginable bastard!" I couldn't have said it better myself.

1:58 Alyssa has pretty much given up watching entirely at this point, too sad.

2:02 He's gotta be expecting to never see her again. "I'll just wait right here."

Did Leo do this before or after "Romeo and Juliet" a couple of "star crossed lovers" to be sure.

2:04 "Dahnuh, dahnuh, dahnuh, dahnuh." I want to see Jaws swimming around down there.

2:09 I like the mean looking point by Tommy. I'll find you bellhop dude.

2:11 nice MacGyver move there. Improvise.

2:11:56 "keep order I say!"

2:13 "Orpheus" was a nice touch there by the band.

2:15:35 I never liked that sissy.

2:17 Rose was a wee bit naive here. Of course my maniacal ex-fiancee has reserved a spot for the guy that I left him for 20 minutes ago.

2:19 Brings to mind the women who won't leave their abusive husbands. "But I love him." She just can't save herself.

2:20 Typically a bad idea to run below decks on a sinking ship, but I guess fleeing a gun wielding psychopath is the exception.

2:22 dumb kid sitting there freezing and screaming

2:22:40 Did we really need a slo-mo action shot of them fleeing? I guess so, it did win Best Picture.

2:25 I've never seen the benefit of shrieking shrilly in a high pressure, high anxiety situation. In what way did that help Jack to concentrate?

2:27 Fabricio's "Bastardo" has to rank pretty high on Simmons' Unintentional Comedy Scale.

2:28 Zane grabs somebody else's baby and pretends it is his own to sneak aboard a lifeboat. Alyssa's take; "F***ing D***"

2:30 Nice little Violin solo, showing some of the intricate detail that went into both the ship and the film.

2:32 according to Wikipedia, all members of the 8 piece orchestra died.

2:33 I would not have enjoyed being the manservant of the dude sipping the brandy as the water came up.

2:34:35 Actually Leo it would have been better for Rose to have gotten off on one of the many lifeboats she had the chance to board.

2:37 Gotta respect the steadfastness of the clergy. Seemingly performing Last Rites while the ship is sinking around him

2:40 I imagine a 200+ foot fall into freezing water would not be fun.

2:40:25 Now you show Rose's mom as a sympathetic figure? Oh please.

2:41 With her head hanging over the railing like that I was envisioning decapitation on impact.

2:43 Really great effects of all the people falling. I'd be so pissed if some jackhole knocked me off because he couldn't hold on.

2:44 Wow, for a street artist Jack sure knows a lot about the physics of a sinking ship.

2:46 Impressive leverage on those punches!

2:46:45 is it rude to say her squirming onto the floating door reminded me of a beached whale?

2:48 Nice try Kathy. A much higher percentage of British died in the sinking, possibly due to the sense of chivalry still embraced by the majority of upper class British males at this time. Not really represented in the movie though.

2:53 Kind of a Zombie feel to the rowing through the frozen, floating, corpses.

2:55 The disc chooses this moment to start screwing up.

2:55 It's okay.

2:57 And....Rescue!!!

2:58 Bearded Scientist Sidekick Guy makes strong appearance. Stroking beard while old lady pronounces judgement on the lifeboats that didn't come back.

2:59 I feel like this music makes more sense in "Braveheart" than in "Titanic"

3:00 Keep walking Billy Zane, Keep walking.

3:02 So who got the necklace, did she have it in her coat or what?

3:03 Strong Bill Paxton, Strong.

3:04 Ohhhh, old lady had it all along. That was stupid.

3:07 Alyssa "another pretty dress"*

*alright, I said it not her. She did say the rest of them though.

And Scene.

A Blog of "Titanic" Proportions. Part One

2010-05-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

Trying a new idea for the blogs on AFI's Top 100 Films, the running diary. I'm afraid there will be kind of a Mystery Science Theater 3000 feel to it. I know it is a bit auspicious of me to attempt this for the first time on the longest freaking movie in the Top 100 but...why not? (Didn't get the time stamp thing down until 40 minutes so I'm not sure exactly where the first stuff landed)

Opening Credits have the most pretentious crap music playing over them, my first thought is Jimmy Cameron is such a d-bag. And Celine Deon is stupid.

For those of you who couldn't tell, Titanic is not in my top 100.

Nice! cameo by Bill Paxton as deep sea diver scientist guy. Hoop earring, bleached blond hair, waxing poetic about a shipwreck.

Alyssa, "What the freak is a microsecond."

Me, "don't know. Less than a second"

One cool thing about Cameron is how he always embraces the most technological advances in his work. I don't know if those deep sea diver thingys are real or not but the T-1000 in Terminator 2 was bad ass. And Avatar was in 3d for those of you that didn't know.

"Snoop Vision" written on crazy bearded helper scientist guy's robot viewer thingy.

Kate Winslet has large breasts. Even in a drawing.

Jurassic Park ripoff alert. Helicopter close up over the ocean with inspirational music playing over.

If I remember correctly "old" Rose got nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress. She didn't win, which makes sense considering she had 15 minutes of air time. Dorky Scientist bearded guy sidekick should have gotten a Best Supporting Actor nomination, IMNSHO.

Wow, for as much as we make fun of people's dress in the 80's, mid 90's fashion is GAWD awful!

I wonder if people being checked for lice upon boarding will ever make a comeback?

Leo...It could have been young teenager envy, but I hated Leonardo DiCaprio at this point in my life. Nowadays, every time I see a new movie he's in I'm impressed anew, That guy can act. Not quite as much in Titanic though.

Billy Zane, I don't know what it says about a person that the acting performance of his that I like best is when he played himself in "Zoolander". "Zoolander" didn't make the list of top 100 by the way. Does that mean he's a nice guy in real life and just good at portraying a self-obsessive jerk, or that he's a self obsessive jerk that didn't realize Zoolander was meant as a spoof.

Running and crying not a good look for LB(that's Large Breasted) Kate, though Leo seems to disagree.

37:40 She very much reminds me of a porcelain doll.

38:45 Jump! Jump! Jump!

40:00 Leo, "You ever been to 'sconsin?" Great pickup line kid, right up there with "What's your sign?"

41:40 Alyssa is distracted by the wardrobes from this time period. I've already gotten a couple of "I love that dress!!" comments.

47:00 or so. Nice necklace. Pretty impressive.

50:31 Creepy sketch of baby breast feeding.

55:00 Loogie Hawking, good times.

57:00 Kathy Bates, oh so sweet, a little overboard on the obnoxious American though. (get it? "overboard" ahahahaha)

1:00:50 "Are you of the Boston Dawsons?" "no, the Chippiwa Falls Dawsons."

1:03:52 Kate just Eye F***** the S*** out of Leo. "To making it count"

1:05:30 Alyssa "I want a dress like that. Not the corset part, though"

1:08:19 Was Leo responsible for guys having horrible hair with ridiculous bangs around this time period? Though I'm pretty sure JTT had similar hair to this as well.

1:10 Ballerinas are very impressive.

1:11 Billy Zane is a jerk.

1:13 Wait a minute, she's marrying Billy Zane so her mom doesn't have to get a job? Weak.

1:20 Sorry, missed the last seven minutes reading about the Titanic on Wikipedia. Much more interesting. "ahhh, ahhh, ohhh, ohhh", Sweet keyboard backing Celine, "Near, Far, Wherever you are, i know that my heart will go on!" or something like that, I never could really understand her French-Canadian Warbling.

1:22 Ahh kissing.

1:25 Kate's a little randy for Leo, their relationship has always kind of creeped me out a bit considering she's married to somebody else but talks about Leo like he's the greatest thing ever.

1:25 Creepy! Kate just said she doesn't need another picture of her as a porcelain doll, funny considering i compared her to one 40 minutes ago. (no I haven't memorized this movie, I've only seen it once, though I did catch the end of it on cable while i was napping on the couch the other day, but not that part)

1:26 Kate is not shy about taking her top off. Which I can appreciate.

1:28 Hearing a pretend 100+ year old woman say "erotic" is not attractive.

1:30 Alyssa informs me she's gonna be leaving soon, and that we'll have to finish viewing it tomorrow night. About twenty minutes ago she started reading because knowing that the ship is gonna sink is bumming her out. I've stated on this blog before that her only requirement to liking a movie is a happy ending, and having seen Titanic before, she knows Kate and Leo are not getting a happy ending. She's pretty freaking sweet.

Until next time...

Best Photo Ever

2010-05-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't yet seen it, I wanted to post this photo. I love this girl SO much and it is great to see photographic evidence that the feeling is mutual. Neither one of us knew this shot was being taken so I'm fairly confident she wasn't just mugging for the camera. This was at the wedding reception for Josh and Megan, which by all accounts, was the most enjoyable and well done reception many of the guests, myself included, had ever been to. I'm getting married in 43 freaking days. Let's hurry it up already, I'm tired of waiting. And I'm most definitely ready for two weeks of Paris.

Can I Get A Witness?

2010-04-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

Had today off from work due to stitches being removed from my head. Since I had a weekday off Alyssa thought it would be a good idea to apply for (and get) our marriage license. While waiting in line at the CoCo County office, a young couple in front of us was informed that they needed a witness in order to get married today. No one had come with them because the oh-so-helpful county worker they had talked to on the phone told them a witness would be supplied for them. Sooooo, in exasperation the groom to be turned around and making eye contact with me asked "you wanna be our witness?" I was quick to voice my assent.

The officiant came out in her robes, took us into the ceremony room and performed a two minute wedding ceremony which both Alyssa and I were thrilled to be a part of. We signed off on their license and were on our way!

It was so affirming to see another couple get married in such an intimate, personal way. It may seem less romantic to some, but to me it was an incredible experience.

Laptop Fun

2010-04-18T14:59:00.001-07:00

This is the first blog update I've done using my new laptop. It's an HP Pavilion Notebook. I bought it Thursday from Costco (Yay Warehouse Stores!) and I like it very much. Unfortunately, I don't have wireless at my house so i had to run one hell of a cable from my router. In two months, when Alyssa moves in we will be getting wireless. She's already made it very clear to me. She has a laptop as well.

The keyboard is pretty nice, only a few typing screw ups thus far. I'm digging it. The main reason I got it is for the honeymoon. I have a Mino HD flip cam and a Sony Cybershot camera, so taking a laptop with a 320 Gig hard drive will allow us to clear more space off of the video camera and the memory cards for the Sony. Allowing even more footage to be taken without having to pony up more bones for extra memory cards.

A Perry Wedding

2010-04-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

Security Detail

Josh and Megan got married last night! Crazy stuff. It's very weird to see a buddy I've known for over twenty years being all grown up and married and stuff. Especially knowing my own marriage is only two short months away. Joshy asked me to be one of his Best Men, which I was thrilled to be and got to deliver one of, count 'em, 6 speeches by the bridal party. Her sister, his sister, her best friend, her brother, his cousin, and then me. Save the best for last I guess. Essentially I said this; though I can't remember exactly due to nervousness and a being a little bit drunk.
As I've been the best of friends with Josh for over twenty years, this speech will be more about him than his bride. Sorry Megan, but we all know everything else this day has been about you, as it should be, so you can bear with me for a couple of minutes.
While Josh, and I for that matter, may have a tendency to be a bit longwinded, when Josh gets to the point it can be counted on to have significance. He weighs his decisions carefully and doesn't rush into anything, except this wedding. Being Josh's close friend I felt obligated to assure myself of his reasons for this marriage and his commitment to it. When Josh told me of his intention to become engaged to Megan, I asked him a very simple question, "Is this the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with?" and I'm happy to say his immediate and confident response was, "Yes, without a second thought in my mind, Megan is the woman for me."
Having heard him tell me about 25 times in the few short months since they started their courtship that "something was different" about Megan, I was completely assured that he was moving forward with an intelligent and Godly purpose and simply told him, "I couldn't be more happy for you!"
And truly, I couldn't be. Living with Josh has given me the opportunity to observe firsthand how they've grown in their relationship and how they are learning to accommodate each other in everything. Megan has shown herself to be a wonderfully caring and compassionate person, almost to a fault at times, and Josh has slowly adjusted his life to fit around her. I told Josh at his man shower that his job from this point forward is to make Megan happy. That doesn't mean to give her everything she wants as soon as she wants it but simply to have thoughtful consideration towards her in everything he does and always find a way to do things that takes her feelings into account.
I love you both very much, and am so thankful to be able to be a part of this day with you. Congratulations to you both! To Megan and Joshua Perry!

More Wedding Fun!

2010-03-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

Brad Lewis and Amy Worgull got married on Saturday, the second of about ten different couples I know getting married this calendar year. It was a blast, I got a little drunk, did a little dancing, ate a lot of food, and had some delicious pie for dessert! They seemed very much in love and full of joy to be wed. Three cheers for them. As a side note, my date is now only 90 days away. Very exciting for both Alyssa and myself.

Also I was finally able to go on my first bike ride of the season, first since November actually, a nice little 25 mile jaunt from my house out to the summit of Palomares Canyon and back. It was just as much fun as I'd recalled, and competing against both my fellow riders and myself was a blast.

Bachelors!!!!!

2010-03-15T09:51:00.001-07:00

Josh's Bachelor Party was this weekend. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Easy Rider Was No Easy Ride

2010-02-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a while since Alyssa and I last got a movie done from our Top 100 list. She had already seen Easy Rider and was hesitant to watch it again. After seeing it for myself, I can see why.
It was definitely interesting. There was a whole lot of social/political commentary going on throughout the movie, and a lot of attention paid to the very prevalent in 1969 culture clash, of old-timey American values and free loving drug abusing "hippies".
The music was incredible, starting off with back to back Steppenwolf; "The Pusher" and "Born to be Wild" and also featured some Hendrix, The Band and other classics.
While I'd like to think that my cinematic tastes have begun to rub-off on Alyssa, I fear that hers are also beginning to rub-off on me. Before we met her definition of a good movie was one that made her happy at the end and mine was one that made me think. This movie most assuredly encouraged thought, but to call it a happy ending would, in my humble opinion, be completely missing the point.
Overall, I'm glad to have watched it and am even more thrilled to cross one more title off of our list!

More Carmel

2010-02-20T09:19:00.000-08:00

Most of my recent Carmel posts have been centered around the work we've been doing there, mainly because every time we go down there it is to work. My last trip included a day of roughing in plumbing drains, vents and water pipe for the new master bathroom. It went pretty well. Not too hard of a day's work all in all. The contractor has finished the exterior of the addition and added the nice new copper gutters with rain chains in place of downspouts. Because of the natural viscosity of water it trickles down the chains and looks a little bit nicer, I think, than regular downspouts.

Honeymoon Plans

2010-02-19T22:08:00.000-08:00

Notre Dame

Alyssa and I have finally decided on where we are going for our honeymoon! Our wedding is exactly four months from today and (literally) getting closer every day. haha.

I'm super excited to take Alyssa to Paris for the first time. I've been lucky enough to have gone a few times before, but seeing this beautiful city again will be wonderful through the eyes of a newbie. I think Paris is the perfect place to take my bride to be. She's a history major who speaks french and is Catholic. How much better could it be. Rome will be next of course but definitely not this trip. I had to plead with her to get two weeks in Paris! We've reserved a cute studio apartment literally a block away from my favorite restaurant in Paris, Chez Janou. I figure we'll have dinner there at least five times over the course of our two weeks. I'm hoping to make a trip up to Belgium for the Tour de France on July 5th, but we'll see if it works out.

To say the least we are both very ready to be wed. It's been over a year engaged already and it's time to get this show on the road. The picture above is from my last time in France.

Tahoe Trip + Cave Rock

2010-01-21T14:06:00.001-08:00

Went up to Tahoe for the 19th? annual Martin Luther King Jr. weekend with the Palomares Elementary crew this past weekend. It was a total blast as always. We stay in a nice little cabin about 5 minutes from stateline and spend our days and nights drinking and gambling and playing board games and cards and hiking and sledding and dicing and drinking. (I've just been informed I've set a new blog record for most ands in one sentence.) Anyway during a break in the snow storm on Sunday, Josh, Megan or Megosh as I like to call them, my brother Brian and myself took a drive and then a hike to the top of Cave Rock. It was a fearsome show of nature's strength. The wind felt like it would blow us off the top and was actually causing the snow to fall upwards around the rock it was blowing so hard. Here's the video with my Christmas present from my folks, a new Mino HD Flip Camera!

Lot o' Stuff

2009-12-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

Let's see... went to Palo Alto with Alyssa a while back to get lunch and cupcakes. Sprinkles cupcakes has these high quality fancy shmancy cupcakes that have a ton of frosting.

My brother took me to the Sharks game with some 6th row tickets that were awesome.

And we rode a holiday train in Sunol.

That about sums up the last couple weeks.

A Night at the Opera

2009-11-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

Alyssa and I finally got to the Marx Bro's movie A Night at the Opera. All it took was a long holiday weekend for us to run out of excuses to avoid it. The best thing I can say about it is that Alyssa would (and did) rather wash dishes than watch it. Oh well, it was another of the hundred down. I think this will be firmly ensconced in least favorite position for now.

Wedding Fun Part Deux!

2009-11-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

One nice view from our room.

Alyssa and I went to Union Square to begin the bulk of our registering at the Macy's there. Since we were in the city I figured we should go out to a nice dinner and stay at the Westin St. Francis and make it one helluva day. It was awesome. We went to dinner at Fleur de Lys a fine cuisine spot owned and operated by Top Chef Masters contestant Hubert Keller. The food was incredible, Monsieur Keller was a humble and gracious host and the hotel was great.
This is my dessert, the Fleurburger with banana milkshake and fennel ice cream fries.

Oh yeah, the registering was fun too.

Wedding Fun!

2009-10-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

The registering has begun! Alyssa and I went to Target the other day and did our first bit of registering for wedding presents. We had such a nice time we've decided to go to Macy's at Union Square to register for the dishes she wants as well as all the other stuff. What do you register for anyway? In addition to whatever kitchen crap we go for we're also interested in one year's worth of netflix if anyone is interested in buying it for us and all sorts of other weird stuff as well. I registered for a PS3 at Target, just in case.

Camera Is Back!

2009-10-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

Nicest part about my new iphone? Always having a camera with me. I went down to Carmel last weekend to help install a new door at my parent's home there. My dad and I cut out the wall to fit the new door in while my brother removed the existing flue pipe for the water heater and furnace. I also removed a couple of windows that were in the part of the house that the addition is tying into. (My parents didn't want windows looking into their new master suite from other parts of the house I guess).

On Sunday I went to my Aunt Kathy's for my Grandma Pat's surprise 81st birthday party. She was suitably surprised and was thrilled to have her family together. We played a round of Grandma themed Pictionary, including places she and my Grandpa had met and dated, previous jobs she held, and some of her passions, including gardening and Sunday school teaching.

I took most of today off because of the horrible weather, this is a picture I took while driving across the San Rafael bridge at seven this morning. Safe , I know!

New Phone!

2009-10-08T18:25:00.001-07:00

If I haven't returned your phone call or text messages for the last few weeks it probably wasn't personal; my phone just didn't work anymore. So I got an iphone. It's great. I love it. I had no idea how wonderful it was and considering I went from never having a phone anywhere near the capabilities of your standard smart phone to this I'm pretty much blown away. It's only a little bit more than my current phone plan too. I'm really freaking jazzed right now.

The Haps.

2009-08-21T14:07:00.001-07:00

I'm feeling blah, blah about the blahg right now. It seems more effort than it is really worth to continually coming up with witticism after witticism. However, some cool stuff has recently happened so I felt like updating. Alyssa had her 23rd Birthday (Yay Alyssa!) we went to the concours d'elegance in Pebble Beach and I finished the job I've been on for the past four and a half months at Stanford. The concours was fun, it was a beautiful day in Carmel and the cars were gorgeous. Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Arnold Schwarzenegger? and some other celebs were there making it seem very posh. We went out for drinks to celebrate Alyssa's birthday last Saturday at Easy 925, a club in Danville. Everybody wanted to buy her a drink, thankfully she didn't overdo it. We've finally decided on a cake maker for the wedding, which makes one less thing left. Other than that, same old same old.

CFW Throws a No-Hitter!

2009-07-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

Alyssa's little bro Christopher threw a no-hitter Saturday morning in a little league tournament. In four innings (the other team got mercy ruled) he struck out 9 had one walk and didn't allow a hit. He also walked, had an RBI double and a single while scoring two runs. In an earlier game he got beaned, thankfully on his non-throwing arm, and scored a couple of runs as well. He was pretty stoked.

Lights, , Action!

2009-07-16T16:46:00.001-07:00

The blank space in between Lights and Action would normally include Camera, but my life has been camera free for the last couple of months it seems. Alyssa and I went to Carmel for a four day weekend on the Fourth of July and I forgot my camera. There was a 42 mile bike ride out of Carmel Valley that I didn't bring my camera to, a great hike from the coast in between Carmel Highlands and Big Sur that I left my camera at the house for, and great dinners in Carmel by the Sea that didn't include any picture taking.
I went to Josh and Megan's engagement party on July 11th but didn't have my camera with me. Alyssa cooked me meals that entire weekend and I didn't capture any on film. The Lacks had Alyssa and I over for a BBQ Sunday and I got no new pictures of now 6 month old Ellie. My parents had me over for my birthday Tuesday night and my Mom actually took some pictures, so that doesn't count.
Anyway I've been dropping the ball on picture taking, and without pictures blogging can be B-O-R-I-N-G. So I've been slacking on that too. Alyssa and I whooped up on Ryan & Bryn Sunday in a pictionary game, though it was for my birthday so maybe they let us win. Ellie has really started to show some personality from the previous times I've seen her, smiling and interacting with people and toys, rather than just sleeping and eating. Wedding plans are progressing on schedule, I guess, and work has been going well. Overall, life is great!

The Vietnam War Sucked

2009-05-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Alyssa and I just watched Platoon, number 86 on the list of 100. I had seen it before but it had been a while, it was her first time. Because her number one priority when watching movies is feeling happy at the end, it wasn't her favorite. I liked it a little less than I had expected, it seemed choppy and had a scattered focus throughout. Also we got it on Comcast On Demand and the sound quality sucked for some reason. Still a pretty solid film and probably my favorite performance by Charlie Sheen and possibly from Willem Dafoe as well.

Young Love

2009-05-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

Some friends of mine recently got married, Chris Conley and Ashley Clark (now Ashley Conley). Alyssa and I went to their ceremony & reception in the Alamo Hills and had a blast. Chris had asked me to be bartender while the photos of the bridal party were being taken, which I readily agreed to, no wait for my drinks! After a little trouble tapping the keg of Coors Light (Beer geyser everywhere!) I had the best time. Everybody is your best friend when you're tending bar, especially when the drinks are free!

The rest of the wedding was great too. They had a photo booth set up carnival style, people took pictures and put them in the guestbook to add a visual to the chicken scratch of 250 guests. Alyssa, Josh, Megan and I took a few together also. It was the first time in quite a while that Alyssa and I went dancing, and truly hit home the point that we should probably take some lessons before our own big day! Just kidding, babe. Actually I'm not, we're horrible! It's nice knowing our own wedding is approaching and being able to glean all the best ideas from our friends for our reception. Josh and Megan better look out, we're stealing from them next!

The Office!

2009-04-12T09:09:00.001-07:00

No, not the TV show. Vorp moved out April 1st and Josh and I haven't wasted anytime converting his bedroom into our office space. First we moved the computer and video games out of the family room and into the third bedroom. We(I) re-routed the cable & Internet underneath the house and from there I drilled a hole into the bedroom closet to stuff our Ethernet cable up into. After getting the computer up and running we flipped around the living room to open up the entryway and it made the room seem twice as big as before.

Then I was given Good Friday off from work so I went to our neighborhood Target and grabbed a new bookcase and a file cabinet. And paid for them of course. I spent Friday putting together the bookcase and organizing all of our video game stuff on the shelves as well as hooking up my brother's old receiver and putting a RadioShack A/V selector switch on them. The file cabinet I used to empty out my top dresser drawer that had been overflowing with bills, home loan docs, pay stubs, insurance info, etc. and actually arrange it into files. It cleared up a lot of space in my room and made room for my new 32" LCD HDTV. It's nice having HD in my bedroom! It was the cheapest brand I could find, online at Costco.com, but is no longer available. Nice picture so far!

Juries, Juries, Everywhere

2009-03-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

After performing my civic duty of Jury service for the last two days, Alyssa and I viewed 12 Angry Men. Starring Henry Fonda, this movie is approximately 96 minutes long and takes place entirely in a jury deliberation room. It was great! Brilliant dialogue, funny moments, high tension and a well written, well acted movie all the way around. Well worth the time to pick it up and give it a view.
The jury duty case I was on ended up being dismissed after two days of missed work and jury examination. Oh well. I earned a big $15 for my two days off, almost enough to pay for gas to and parking at the courtroom!

New Haps

2009-03-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

Not much going on for me. Josh and I finally finished the refinance which should save us both a little bit of money going forward. I've began settling in to the idea of having an honest to God fiancee. We went to dinner Thursday night, I looked at her with what I believe to be pure admiration in my eyes and said, "You're going to be my wife." I love the sound of that. She makes me so happy. Also, I'm very good at Wii Sports and Wii Play. My brother bought a new Wii and I played a lot of it this weekend. I'm still waiting on our next movie update though. Hopefully we'll get to 12 Angry Men soon.

My Last Supper...

2009-02-15T08:13:00.000-08:00

As a single man. I'm engaged to my wonderful, gorgeous, incredible, brilliant, one-of-a-kind fiancee. For Valentine's Day Alyssa and I cooked up a couple of goat-cheese, tomato, sauteed onion and parmesan tarts to go with a homemade Greek salad with a made from scratch Lemon vinaigrette. And then the real news of the weekend, this morning I proposed to Alyssa! (she said yes). I took an ad out in the Travel Section of the SF Chronicle. It's her favorite section of the paper and reading the paper is my favorite thing to do when I wake up in the morning. Save some weekend in Summer of 2010 for the festivities. Enjoy the pics!

Bringing Up Baby

2009-02-14T17:55:00.001-08:00

Finally back to the top 100. Knocked out Bringing Up Baby on Valentine's Day. Really cute flick with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Katherine Hepburn was damn hot back in the day and the most ebullient personality onscreen. The movie was almost slapstick in nature but truly enjoyable. More to come tomorrow...

Catch Up

2009-01-26T15:44:00.001-08:00

My previously stated schedule of one blog per week has obviously not been working. However I got tonight off of class so I figured I'd catch y'all up. Alyssa and I went shopping in the city with her Mom and brother. Ellie was born to Ryan and Bryn, she's adorable and has done nothing but sleep when I'm about. I went up to Tahoe over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend with a Fu Manchu mustache. I looked absolutely ridiculous and loved it. I finished another semester of my apprenticeship school and am down to three semesters left (out of 10). Josh and I are looking at a refinance on our house that could lower our mortgage payment nicely and help us both to save significantly more money every month. I love my girlfriend and every moment I spend with her. Alyssa has truly made it apparent to me what "She makes me want to be a better person" actually means. We have a great time every time we hang out and she actually recently ordered Bringing Up Baby so we can finally continue our movie list. All in all life's good.

It was a hairy situation

2008-12-08T08:00:00.001-08:00

How great of a firefighter would I make?

I have been known to have a bit of a neck hair problem. If I don't clean it up every couple of weeks it looks like an ape is climbing out the back of my shirt. So after going about a month and a half without shaving it I finally shaved my head and got rid of the monkey on my back. I had grown my customary beard while growing my hair out and so decided to shave that too. As a joke I left the mustache until Alyssa came over to see it. When i went over to give her a kiss (with mustache) she turned her head away so I couldn't kiss her lips. I don't think she liked it. It's gone now but it will return, possibly as a handlebar. The look on her face says, "You idiot, get rid of that stupid caterpillar on your lip!"

Can You Spot Six Differences Between the Pictures?

2008-11-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

Before

After

Actually there is just one difference; though it is a big one. Because the rainy season has begun Josh and I decided it would be a good time to redo the front walk. We got rid of the hideous, oversized, pebbled-concrete pavers (my apologies to anyone out there who may have some like that) and put in a nicer more patio style look. It's hard to tell from the before picture, but they had nine stones tic-tac-toe style with random shrubbery in between. I like the new look better!

BTW: Happy Thanksgiving!

Dorks

2008-11-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

So I went by my friendly neighborhood (closing) circuit city and saw guitar hero two on sale for only $45. Being behind in my gaming by an average of three years i went ahead and bought it. Vorp is a dork.

A Sophisticated Wine Party & Food Fest

2008-10-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

Our dish

Tyler Moxley of The Moxley Team @ Alain Pinel Realtors Pleasanton held his fourth annual Wine Pairing Party Saturday night, the 25th of October. I pretend that I'm some sort of high brow individual but really I just go for the snacks. Alyssa and I brought an Anderson Valley Cab with an assortment of cheese and cracker options as well as a fresh loaf of a sourdough baguette. I did all the prep and presentation though the dish was her idea. I liked it and it got pretty much taken care of at the party. The rest of the food and wine options were nowhere near as boring as ours though. There were some tasty looking swans containing a nice chocolate mousse, and salami with cream cheese and pepperoncini peppers which i ate about half of (the platter). Good times with good people.

My Favorite

Our host with many, many empty bottles.

Taboo!

2008-10-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

Alyssa rules at Taboo! 'Nuff said.

Back to the Blog

2008-10-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

Sunrise over the Bay

When I started this blog I was hoping to update it about once a week. Recently that hasn't happened, I guess I'm just too damn busy. Lots of stuff going on though. Alyssa's mother Alicia recently had a birthday, we went to Fuddrucker's. She loved the gifts I got her, though Alyssa did all the shopping, I just contributed some cash.

Last Thursday Alyssa and I spent the evening in the beautiful Embassy Suites Burlingame (she slept on the sofa bed Grandma, honest). My cousin Margo is the guest relations person there and hooked us up with a beautiful room on the bay and some VIP treatment. Friday morning we went up to the city to check out the California Academy of Sciences renovation. Alyssa and I both enjoyed it very much but we're both dorks so if you like aquariums and the like you will probably like it just as much.

Sunday my Grandma Pat celebrated her 80th Birthday. Most of my family surprised her at her home church which was quite a kick because her church boasts a regular attendance of 10 and my family brought 25. She was super surprised and deflected all the praise directed at her to the Lord as she always does.

So yeah, I've been busy, but don't worry I still think my life is as cool as I've always thought it to be, and will continue to share it.

Good Times

2008-09-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

So Bryn and Ryan finally discovered the sex of their unborn child, a girl, (see c'est une belle vie for more details) and Alyssa and I played some more party games with them Saturday night. The best part for me, was that the part that seemed to excite them the most about having a girl, was that they didn't have to worry about being peed on whilst changing diapers. It was pretty mind altering to see the two of them together and know that some time in the next few months that baby that Bryn has been cooking is going to be out and about. I truly can't imagine the joy they must feel right now bringing a child into the world.

In other news no progress on the top 100 but I have started Six Feet Under Season One on Comcast On Demand. It's pretty dang good and unexpectedly (to me) stars Michael C. Hall from Dexter. Kind of funny seeing an actor I recognize primarily as a serial killer playing the part of a funeral director.

TV and Not Movies

2008-09-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

So I've been skirting the responsibility of watching the top 100 movie list because of my recent binge on television on DVD. I'm in the middle of Entourage Season 4, Deadwood Season 1, Heroes Season 2, Office Season 4 (after watching 1-3 to catch Josh and Vorp up), and the Wire Season 1. And the Black Donnellys Complete Series. I just completed Dexter Season 2 which was awesome if you don't mind shows about serial killers that are far from realistic. Also I've begun to DVR the new HBO vampire series True Blood, starring Anna Paquin, and Entourage Season 5.
It's a bit of TV overload I know, but I'm enjoying and invested in them all. So that's why Alyssa and I haven't gotten around to Bringing Up Baby yet. But we will soon, honest.

Waterford Crystal

2008-08-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

It's hard to comprehend the simple beauty of watching a professional take something so ordinary and simple and turning it into a beautiful piece of art. The glass workers at Waterford Crystal are true professionals. There is a rhythmic art involved in watching people that know each other and trust each other, work together. Truly enchanting.
Unfortunately, because the only video I took of them working is 111MB, blogger won't load it. I'll have to edit it down.

Ireland the Beautiful

2008-08-29T10:01:00.001-07:00

Since I returned from my vacation in early July, I've been promising pictures of the beautiful Irish countryside. The wait is over! Not that anyone cares, but still I feel I need to show some of these shots.

Alyssa's 22nd

2008-08-21T21:34:00.001-07:00

Alyssa had a little family get together on Tuesday to celebrate her 22nd Birthday on her 22nd Birthday, (August 19th). She was nice enough to invite my parents and brother, as well as myself of course. She looked very cute in the new shirt I got her whilst modeling her new shoes, which I also got her. My brother got her a birthday card for a three year old which was payback for the Happy 30th card that she gave him (on his 27th birthday). The added bonus was that the card doubled as a crown which he insisted she wear throughout the party. I was impressed she could fit a card made for a three year old on her head. Her mother made the most delicious Lasagne I've ever tasted, and I've had some pretty tasty authentic Italian dishes. All in all it was a pretty great night.

Pacific Coast Highway & Montecito Wedding

2008-08-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday my family and I drove from my parent's house in Carmel down Highway 1 to Montecito (near Santa Barbara) for a wedding. The drive was beautiful, I rode with my dad in his convertible and my brother and mother went in her car (also with the top down). The wedding was a really nice backyard ceremony at the Journey's home in Montecito. I wore one of the three shirts I purchased while in Paris with my pinstriped suit, and I think it went off pretty well. Enjoy the pics!

Food.

2008-08-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

I like food. Some might say love. Alyssa and I, with prep help from her mother Alicia, made some Penne Pomodoro with a sauteed asparagus side. The Pomodoro was delicious, the tomatoes and basil were homegrown from Alyssa's backyard and I stole some garlic from Josh (just two cloves, don't tell him, he doesn't read this so I'll know if you told him) for the asparagus. Essentially the asparagus was warmed in butter, olive oil, and garlic, and seasoned with a little freshly ground sea salt and cracked peppercorn (from Costco and Safeway respectively). It was also delicious. Fried asparagus sure looks unappetizing though.

Moxicillin

2008-08-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

Moxley is all butt hurt that I don't post about him enough. Typically I don't write much about my business associates/realtors but he likes to whine a lot and i can only handle so much of it. So check out Tyler Moxley at http://moxleyteam.com/home/ so i don't have to listen to him whine anymore. Thanks

Yes, I like Chicken Piccata...

2008-08-10T08:02:00.000-07:00

...and getting caught in the rain.
Alyssa and I cooked up some delicious Chicken Piccata at the house last night. Alyssa brought over everything (she treated me to dinner) and I had a bunch of BS Chicken Breasts from Costco. It was incredible. Really savory with the tang and acidity of the lemons and capers. Enjoyed the hell out of it. We'll do it again as soon as I have enough counter space to do anything. My kitchen is the smallest little space ever. We made enough for Josh and Whitney to have some too so we got them to do dishes for us. I hate the idea of cooking, it always seems like too much work, but when Alyssa starts, I have to join in, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and feel that unless I'm doing it it won't be done right. So when she cooks for me it usually turns in to her helping me cook, despite her best efforts to keep me out of the kitchen.
Then Josh and I whooped some ass in Pictionary. It's nice playing a game that requires you to think like your partners with a person you've known for twenty years, while playing against two people who have met 5 times in the space of two months. Advantage, Matt! Alyssa also brought over some Casaba melon, a more delicious honey dew in my opinion, and some Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for dessert. I ate all of the CCCD by myself.

Game Night!

2008-08-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

Last night Alyssa and I went out with the Lacks for a dinner at The Hopyard in San Ramon. Afterwards we got down with some 25th Anniversary Edition Trivial Pursuit goodness. Alyssa and I won a hard fought battle against Ryan and Bryn after Josh and Whitney withdrew halfway through the game for Josh to go to bed and Whitney to go home. I've discovered the most difficult part of the game is actually landing on the center square after collecting your pie pieces. We added a twist that you had to answer a question when landing on the final square. Ours was, "Which sport awards the Stanley Cup to its championship winner?" being a huge Sharks/hockey fan it wasn't too difficult to come up with hockey. Probably wouldn't be making this post if we didn't win, but we did, so there.

My new dog

2008-08-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

Tucker, everyone. Everyone, Tucker. I'm going to be stealing this dog from his current owner Ashley sometime in the next couple of weeks. He is awesome. Full of energy, yet still very soft and cuddly, he was incredibly hard to say goodbye to. I welcome any suggestions on how best to get him away from Ashley, at this point I'm thinking about some shaving cream around his mouth and paying some kid to cry "RABIES!!" and threaten to tell their mother that they were bitten. I'd have to change his name too, Tucker has at least one too many extremely unflattering rhyming words. I can only imagine the nicknames people would come up with.

House Party!

2008-07-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

All loyal blog readers are invited to the Ginn-Perry House Warming Party on Saturday, August 23rd. The exact time has yet to be finalized but probably around 2 or so in the afternoon and going all night! The party is being sponsored by Tyler Moxley of the Moxley Team at Alain Pinel Realtors' Pleasanton office, and will include a Margarita machine and catered food. It is somewhat ironic that the only two people who read this blog (Ryan & Bryn) will be out of town that weekend, and so this post is completely useless. But if anybody else actually bothers to check up on ol' Pending Sobriety feel free to contact me for directions or more info.

Flora Of Southern Ireland and Paris

2008-07-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

The House! & Movie Update

2008-07-26T15:55:00.001-07:00

I'm in, here are some pics:

So of the top 100 list, Alyssa and I have completed the final, or first, depending on how you look at it, 10 films. The most recent three (yet to be blogged films) are The French Connection, Goodfellas and Sophie's Choice. Goodfellas was as great as I'd recalled, and The French Connection was fun, mostly seeing Gene Hackman as a bad ass. Sophie's Choice was good but I didn't like seeing Kevin Kline as a nutcase. He's always been a very likable guy in his films, even in A Fish Called Wanda, when he tortured an animal loving stutterer by swallowing fish out of his tank. Now that's a brilliant movie! Anyhow, I've enjoyed the experience of the first ten and it has certainly broadened my horizons, cinematically speaking.

I've worked 12 of the past 13 days and just recently got Internet back so I've been lazy with the blog. I'm hoping to publish a "Flora of Ireland and France" post, which is pretty much a bunch of closeups of pretty flowers. I know, a little gay, but surprisingly pretty. Until next time.

I'm Baaaack

2008-07-25T18:12:00.000-07:00

Josh, Alyssa, and I

Finally. I've pretty much completed the move in process to my first (live-in) home purchase with my buddy Joshua Perry. Yesterday I got the Comcast double play installed, an HD/DVR receiver for our new 42" LCD TV, and another box in my room. And finally, blessed Internet. There was supposed to be a third box in Josh's room but the installers screwed up and brought a broken box. So Josh and I will run the cable under the house up into his room and get an additional box. This is the first time either Josh or myself has lived in a place that gets cable and so far we're not incredibly impressed. I'll be posting pics of the house soon but I just wanted to encourage my readers to come back. All two of you.

A Crazy 48 Hours

2008-07-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was my last day in Paris and started off with a bang that didn't end until I arrived home 48 hours later. Bear with me, this will take a while.

Woke up Wednesday morning, took a shower, got dressed, went shopping with my brother. He bought this really nice shirt that we dropped off back at the apartment before heading out to complete our souvenir shopping. As we were walking to the Metro stop my brother looks at me and says, "no joke, our car is gone." The night before, my parents, our friend Caroline and my brother parked the car in a no parking spot and it got towed. I didn't know this at the time, I thought Brian had just forgotten where the car was parked. So, parents and Caroline come out to verify the car is gone, then Brian and I say we got to finish our shopping we'll see you later. Four police stations later they finally track down the car in time for Caroline to give us a ride to CDG. On our two hour drive to CDG from Paris in the worst traffic of my life i hear a little beep coming from my mom's phone. She had received a text message from Aer-Lingus, the Irish airline we were flying into Dublin from Paris and flying from Dublin to SFO in the morning saying "We're sorry your flight tonight has been cancelled." Which meant that we couldn't make it to Dublin in time to catch our flight home and meant we would be stuck in Europe for at least an extra day but probably two more because we didn't find out about the whole Dublin airport radar failure until very late in the game causing any open flights to fill right up. Well I wasn't having any of that, I wanted to go home and was determined to catch our flight out of Dublin the next morning, so I started looking at Travelocity and other sites trying to get into Dublin before our 9:40 flight the next morning. British Airways had a 10:00 PM flight out of CDG to London Heathrow and a flight arriving into Dublin from London at 8:10 AM the following morning. Unfortunately after booking the flight I realized that the early morning flight was out of London City airport not Heathrow. Which meant we had to get a 100 Pound (app. $200) cab ride at 4 in the morning to the complete opposite side of London after staying up for the four hours after arriving in Heathrow. Cool part was driving by Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye, the Tower of London, and Tower Bridge all lit up and beautiful at 4:30 in the morning. So we had the first flight out of London City airport in the morning, the plane was already there, no way for it to be delayed or late right. Of course not. There was a "catering Mixup" causing the flight to leave over half an hour late and causing our window in Dublin to shrink to 45 minutes from an hour and a half. We landed in Dublin, I literally sprinted through the airport, was able to talk a customs official into letting my family skip the line for passport control and customs, and then sprinted past baggage claim leaving my bags to try to check us in before check in closed. Check in was closed. I ran over to a desk, got her to refer me to her supervisor, and explained the whole situation of our last 30 hours sleeping in Heathrow, buying new flight, etc. By this point my family had arrived with our bags and we were able to check in and get on the plane! We got in the plane with 20 minutes to spare and arrived at SFO 10 hours later. Unfortunately no one wanted to pick us up so we had to catch BART back to Castro Valley and then get a ride from Alyssa to home.

The whole experience so exhausted me that I've had an 102 degree fever since we got home. And a nonstop case of explosive diarrhea. Through Saturday. But I did make it home in time.

If anybody is in contact with the Amazing Race producers please forward this story their way.

So Long and Fair Well

2008-06-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Yea I know it's fare not fair but yesterday I went to the W.T. capital of the world, the Alameda County Fair! Alyssa and I went with our friends Ryan and Bryn Lack, and had an absolute blast. I almost made myself vomit with the combination of greasy foods, beer, jerky rides and super sweet desserts. Ryan and I used all the tickets up on the good rides so the girls only got to go on this Merry-Go-Round.

Yes that is me doing the sound effects.

Also, the Blog will be going on a bit of a hiatus, I'll be in Europe for the next three weeks (Ireland and Paris) and when I get back I'll be moving in to the new house I just bought with my buddy Josh. So things will be a little crazy until we both get settled in.

Pulp Fiction

2008-06-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

This movie rules. Straight up awesome. Probably the best comedy I've ever seen in its originality. Also has tons of violence and swearing, they drop the F-bomb 265 times in this movie, but the dialogue is so brilliant I can't help but to laugh out loud over and over again. And, surprisingly, Alyssa enjoyed it also, though she did say she'd never watch it again. I caught her laughing a lot. "have you ever given a man a foot massage?"

Movie Ideas

2008-06-19T13:48:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it is just watching all these "great" films or me being bored but recently I've been running movie ideas through my head. On my way home from work today I started thinking about Battle Royale, a Japanese movie with a cast full of high school classmates that are left on a deserted island and are forced to kill each other off to survive. Only one person gets to win by killing everyone else and being allowed to live. Anyhow I would love to see an American version with all of the overexposed, unenlightened, Lala Land morons roaming around. Starring in no particular order, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, maybe include the outspoken politico's; Brad Pitt and wifey, Bono,the scientologists; John Travolta, Tom Cruise and throw Shia LeBeouf in there cause he's in everything now anyway. I can only imagine watching them fight to the death and how little their celebrity ideals would mean to them in that scenario. Just an idea. I think I'll start working on a script.

The Last Picture Show

2008-06-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

Another movie down. Monday Alyssa and I finished The Last Picture Show, a 1971 movie about a 1950's town. Pretty boring and really unrelatable for us ( I just made that word up, it means I was unable to relate to a movie about expansion and the loss of small town community when I've never seen small town community in my lifetime). It was decent though and a trip to see Jeff Bridges and Cybil Sheperd looking young and hot. Cybil even got a little naked for it which was a shock considering what she looks like now. Pulp Fiction is next which I love and crack up to every time I see it.

Father's Day at the Ginn's

2008-06-15T20:10:00.001-07:00

Today was (and is) Father's Day. My family got together at my parent's house around noon for a BBQ and cards. My dad got a set of Philips noise canceling headphones from my mom. She saw them at Costco for $60 and thought they'd be worth a shot. Unfortunately my brother, mom, and myself also could use a nice pair of noise canceling headphones, what with the upcoming flights and extended periods in the car with my family over the next two+ weeks, so she got everyone a pair. My brother and I chipped in on some pipe wrenches for my dad. His reaction was essentially "Yay, pipe wrenches" Nothing to get too excited about. Anyhow, here's a horrible picture of my family trying to get the smile cam on my camera to work from far away. Like my brother said, "it's a smile cam, not an eyebrow cam."

And yes, I know, we are a bunch of dorks.

The Skullet (or is it Skullit, skullett or skullitt?)

2008-06-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

As evidenced by the no hair shot in the Whoops post I recently cut my hair. Due to increasing pressure from an incredible and varied number of blog readers (Ryan), I felt obligated to show the middle step of my hair cutting process. The Skullet:

And yes Alyssa thought I was serious about keeping it like that but she forbade me from publishing the video I took of her entrance. And her reaction was more apathy towards it as opposed to outright revulsion so it doesn't make that great of theater anyhow.

The Right Thing Was Done.

2008-06-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

Alyssa and I got to watching the Spike Lee joint "Do the Right Thing" on Saturday night. I thoroughly enjoyed the flick, she had seen it before and didn't like it. I think her ideal movie involves sunshine, rainbows and a happy ending, but I'm hoping to convert her to more pics that require you to think.
I found it interesting that as a person generally shown to be at least somewhat radically inclined towards his race, Spike Lee did a very good job portraying racial tension in this country without bias. Or at the very least didn't try to justify the actions of the black people in his film. Also interesting that someone shown to be a peacemaker early in the film ultimately has a breaking point just like everyone else and evolves into a fire starter (figuratively and literally).
Ultimately I found the film to have two morals; one, the racial situation in this country has got to be changed for the better and two, don't hang out in a poor New York neighborhood on an incredibly hot day, because people can have short tempers.

Whoops!

2008-06-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

So I was cutting my hair in the normal fashion yesterday when the strangest thing happened. Namely, I screwed up. I gave the clippers to Alyssa to trim the hair I couldn't see to a shorter level due to my hairy neck. After she finished she gave the clippers back to me and I proceeded to clean up the work I had already done. Without realizing the clippers were now set to a different length. Whoops! So now I have the shortest hair I can recall having. Thankfully it still grows back.

Tate's 30th

2008-06-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

My cousin Tate had his 30th birthday a couple of weeks ago. He is the first of my first cousins to reach that age. I gave him a nice "my condolences" card to commemorate the event. The party was a lot of fun including a game of Tate themed pictionary. While at the party I also found out that Tate and his wife Claire will be in Paris at the same time as my family this July. We are making plans to go to a nice American themed bar on the 4th and have an Independence Day celebration in Paris.

4 Down, 96 To Go

2008-05-25T21:44:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed the updated movie list to the right. Yes we finished Blade Runner today. I felt obligated to add a blog in its honor because I had done the same for the previous films. And that's the only reason. Not highly recommended. So far I can say Toy Story is great, but everybody already knew that, and Yankee Doodle Dandy was a pleasant surprise. Other than that so far, (not) so good.

Alyssa's Graduation

2008-05-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend is now officially a college graduate. Saturday the 24th of May, 2008 I went to her commencement ceremony at St. Mary's College in Moraga, CA. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in history and also won the History Department's Award for most outstanding history major. Afterward we went to her house and threw a Happy Graduation party. She was a wonderful host and floated around like a little social butterfly the whole time. This is the video of her departmental award.

And here are some random Graduation and party pics.

Alyssa & I before the ceremony
Alyssa getting in line to receive her diploma

Alyssa with my Grandma's(Grandma Pat & Nana from the left)

Alyssa looking all cute

My family laughing at my father.

Beer Fest Low-Lights; With Pictures!

2008-05-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

While up in Boonville for Beer Fest over Mother's day weekend I literally got the crap kicked out of me. I was trying to think of a clever way to say it where it didn't sound quite so bad but there is really no other way to say you got your ass handed to you. My brother beat me down. Over the course of less than two minutes. Without any struggle at all on his part. It was pretty pathetic. And by pretty I mean really. To be fair my brother has a longer reach, weighs more and has a mean streak in him that I don't possess. Though none of those have mattered in the past. I'm just gonna say I was really drunk and that I must have been dizzy or something. Enjoy the pics! The time was 5:18 when we are both sitting in chairs and I have a smirk on my face like I said something clever. It's 5:19 when we are both standing up hugging and I look like I got the crap kicked out of me. The photo of my beer and I is five minutes later.

My New Tattoo

2008-05-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

My brother and I have recently settled on a tattoo. We've been considering matching tats for a while now and I found this online. It's the original coat of arms of our ancestors in Ireland. Please feel free to respond with comments on what you think. We're also fairly certain there is no way to make this look like a synonym for penis, which happened to happen to a friend of ours. I just made up the ancestors part, I'm pretty certain we used to be McGinn's which might mean these people aren't even related to us. And this is the fancy version of the coat of arms. Here's the real one:

Movie Update

2008-05-13T22:22:00.001-07:00

We (Alyssa and I) finally got through Ben Hur and moved on to Yankee Doodle Dandy. James Cagney starred and won the academy award for his performance in the film in 1942. The movie was black and white which bothered me at first but I had forgotten about by the end. The film was surprisingly enjoyable, after the snore fest that was Ben Hur. YDD was a great musical/comedy with some catchy show tunes. Not to mention the subject matter (George M. Cohan) was one hell of an interesting guy. I'm now looking forward to Blade Runner, another one I've never seen.

Beer Fest '08

2008-05-11T15:05:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the "12th Annual Legendary Boonville Beer Festival" in, believe it or not, Boonville this weekend. It was phenomenal. You pay $40 for a ticket, and when you walk in you are given a 8oz or so glass that you use to drink about 400-500 different types of beer if you are so inclined. These pics are some of the swag I acquired while we were up there, with more pics to follow as soon as I get my brother's photo's. I'll write more when I post those pics but I'm exhausted so it's time to go to bed.

Yes that is a beer on my hat. It appears to be a brown bear with deer antlers, hence bear + deer =BEER! Absolutely Brilliant!

Sharks See Stars

2008-05-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

Time to bid adieu to the (ice)skaters from San Jose. My favorite team from the most incredible sport of hockey, the San Jose Sharks were eliminated in quadruple overtime by their intradivisional rival the Dallas Stars. It was an incredible game that featured the best goal tending I've ever seen; by both the vile Marty Turco and the incomparable Evgeni Nabokov. After fighting back from a 0-3 series hole to make it 2-3 the Sharks just couldn't keep up with the pests that are the Stars. After a game that covered five hours and fourteen minutes of real time the Stars finished off my Sharkies on the power play. See you next year boys and thanks for the effort. Except for Brian Campbell, Brian Campbell would have to show effort before I thanked him for it.

Graduation & the Derby

2008-05-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

Today i went to the commencement ceremony of one of my favorite people in the world, one Katie Perry. She is my buddy Josh's little sister and i've known her since she was about 3 years old. Anyhow it was a great ceremony, except for the part when the guy who received an honorary doctorate had a stroke onstage. Maybe it wasn't a stroke but he sure looked to be in bad shape. After that we went to a great celebratory lunch at Maggiano's in Santana Row. Tons of food, calamari, pasta, meat dishes, tiramisu, creme brulee, just non stop food. It took about 2 hours just to get through the courses. Congratulations Katie!
On a not so great note, the second place horse at the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby today was euthanized(put down, killed, put out of its misery) on the track immediately following the race. It just shows you, in horse racing, and life, second place will get you killed. The above picture is the son of a bitch who did it.

Ascent (& descent) In Arroyo Seco

2008-04-26T22:19:00.000-07:00

Today i went through probably the most harrowing experience of my 24 years. Except maybe childbirth, i bet that was scary for me too. Anyhow i was working in Arroyo Seco on one of my parents' properties. For those of you who don't know Arroyo Seco is about 20 miles south of Salinas on 101 and probably 10 miles west of 101. It's this beautiful scrub brush landscape with a (sometimes) dry river at the bottom of a, no exaggeration, 500 foot gorge.
So i had the pleasure today of climbing down a sheer cliff face to the bottom of that gorge in order to repair the pump in the well at the bottom. It was terrifying. I love stuff like this, cliff jumping in particular has always been a hell of a thrill for me, but something about knowing one false step might be the last i take increases the pucker factor of something immensely(so much so for my father that he didn't even go down there with me). For those of you who don't know the pucker factor is how much your b-hole tightens and your balls shrivel up when doing something. Anyway i made it down there and got a new pump on the motor so we should be good to go from here, but even if we aren't, i will never be climbing down there again.
That wasn't even the most wonderful part of my day though. When i was on my way down there my father and i stopped at home depot to get some of the stuff we'd need for the day. I've never been more impressed with the quality of absolute moron that home depot finds. We found the world's least concerned Building materials supervisor and the world's most inefficient checker in the same store. I pulled the Charles Meng patented move of putting my two hands together in the shape of a gun and miming blowing my brains out the back of my head while this nut job was scanning away. Oh well, other than that it was a fabulous Saturday and truly an absolutely amazing, wonderful, unforgettable experience. That i will never ever do again.

Shameless Advertising

2008-04-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Since i officially have almost one regular reader of the blog I figured it was time to start advertising on here. The one link on the page is for the newly founded business venture of a couple of friends of mine. They rent inflatable jumpers for kids parties and all the associated equipment you can think of. They're nice guys and I'm hoping i can get them to give me a little kickback if i encourage other's to use them for their children's party needs. Kind of an advertising fee i guess. anyway if you are bored or want to rent jumpers, check them out.

Hypocrisy On Day 1

2008-04-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

So today I started a new goal that pretty much goes directly against my rant of yesterday. My girlfriend Alyssa and I started watching AFI's (American Film Institute, not the band) top 100 American movies of the last 100 years(her idea). Our plan was to start at number 100 and work our way down but neither one of us could stay awake for Ben Hur. That means number 99 Toy Story kicked us off with Ben Hur coming later, preferably after a caffeine binge. This may seem like I'm already going against the whole obsessed with the wrong stuff ideas from yesterday, but really I'm holding it to one a week or so, until we get to the good stuff anyway. By the way, Toy Story is an absolutely classic movie, brilliant dialogue, amazing graphics that were literally the first of its kind, they started a revolution in animation and pretty much put old school cartoonists out of the big bucks arena. And I was somewhat chagrined to realize that I still knew over 50% of the dialogue, I was saying most of the movie under my breath right along with the characters. Tonight is the Sharks game, hopefully their last game of the series with the Calgary Flames. Other than that just taking it easy on a lazy Sunday.

Introduction

2008-04-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

I've finally caved in to the baser me and decided i need a blog. The title is kind of an inside joke from my days at UCSB. Due to the huge alcohol abuse problems down there every police report was full of kids taken to the drunk tank stories, which of course always ends with, "Housed in Santa Barbara County Jail, Pending Sobriety". At the time i would joke with my friends about starting a band with that name cause we were drunk all the time, but it has somehow evolved into a life lesson for me, a warning against complacency.
It seems that everyone in this world is drunk on something, be it their jobs, sex, alcohol, drugs (legal and otherwise), sports, music, movies or entertainment in general. These can all be wonderful things, but there is such a tendency in this nation, this society in general, to completely immerse yourself in meaningless fluff. I know that I've been guilty of abusing damn near everything on that list at some point. Life can be about so much more than the trivial shit we fill our existence with.
Anyway, that was getting a little too preachy. What Pending Sobriety means to me is that i need to focus on what is real in my life, my girlfriend, my home, my family, my friends, and most of all my future. What i plan on acheiving in this lifetime and how i plan to do it. Where i'm going to go from here. I've taken the bullshit out of my life and am ready for what comes next. I'm tired of this drunk tank shit, ready for the bars of the cell to be thrown open and for my clarity of thought to transform itself into a clarity of purpose, my ideals to mold my actions, and my beliefs to mold my life. Life is too short to do anything else.