Delivered and Accepted

Now that the gift has been given and used, I can talk a bit about aquiring it from the Apple Store.
The experience was okay. Parking was terrible. I parked back on the bridge over the 110 freeway and walked the two blocks to the store. They were very busy. The first employee took me to a second who was helping someone else and directed a third to go in the back and get what I wanted and delivered it to a fourth employee who was found by the first one to finally ring me up, after the fourth employee tried to sell me several packages I did not want, though they did do a friendly job of trying to sell me a more expensive model than what I wanted. I did relent to get the 99 dollar printer/scanner/copier from cannon since they offered a hundred dollar rebate, which I applied for and received back within a week. I finally walked out with the macbook I wanted, with a printer and three year coverage which will make my niece a happy camper. At least for a few months... ;)
...She sure was quiet after she thanked me and started using it, along with a big smile on her face. Mom was a wonderful host again this year. One brother from Tulsa was also with us, where were my other two brothers and their families? Hmmmm? My sister gave me a new cell phone. As soon as I activate it, I'll post the number here for you. yeah, right. Think I'll curl up in my new dodger blanket with a home plate dodger pillow too. Good Night!

I wish...

Weeweechu

Here is a story about Rosita and Pedro. Enjoy!

It's a romantic full moon, when Pedro said, "Hey, mamacita, let's do Weeweechu."

Oh no, not now, let's look at the moon!" said Rosita.

Oh, c'mon baby, let's you and I do Weeweechu. I love you and it's the perfect time," Pedro begged.

"But I wanna just hold your hand and watch the moon." replied Rosita.

Please, corazoncito, just once, do Weeweechu with me."

Rosita looked at Pedro and said, "OK, one time, we'll do Weeweechu."

Pedro grabbed his guitar and they both sang....

"Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Cubs Lose

Not only did the cubbies lose, but the dodgers swept them in three straight games. Sorry cub fans, but I am very happy. Other fans that I hadn't seen for half the year started buying me drinks after the game at the stadium club, so I bought them drinks back. Though there was no way I could drink them all, at nearly midnight after the game had ended, security finally came in to clear us all out and I head through the suites back toward my section and out of the stadium. The only folk though this part of the parking lot were drunks and security. Which was I? Definitely not security. I did make it home safe and sound and able to let you know how happy dodger fans are tonight. Twenty years since this team had won a post season series. Poor cubbies and their hundred year quest will have to wait another year, Go Dodgers. I even have time to record for librivox.org tomorrow, but for now, sleep, wonderful sleep. g'night all.

Strange Week

Travelling in a different circle can spin one around. Sunday night I meet some friends at an outdoor jazz concert. Turns out the eighty year old, sax playing, headliner, was the cousin of the folk I went to meet there. We all go out to dinner and I am wow'd by the stories of traveling the world with his horns and the women who stalked him. The week ended with a dinner party last Saturday night, with a walk over to one of her friends house. We all go in and wait for the artist to arrive. When she does, the parlor is opened and a huge pipe organ is set up permanently in this guys parlor. He introduces the player who talks about each selection while changing the settings on the organ from romantic to baroque and back. I sure do not understand the footwork involved with all those pedals. Tip basket with envelopes was available and I put a twenty in an unmarked envelope and tossed it in for I was so astonished at what I just heard. Who has concerts in their home like this? I've invited guitar players to parties before, but never a pipe organist. Hope she does well in her competition in Japan later this year. It takes all kinds, and I'm sure I'll never see them all.

Saturday on the Road

After a wonderful week visiting family and friends for the last two weeks, finally on my way home. Currently in a motel in Las Cruses waiting for the sun to set, and wake up tomorrow morning and head back to LA. For the last week I've been in a beach house viewing the Gulf of Mexico with good friends and good times. Cell phones have entered the house, and with improved service this year, calls interrupted many of our activities, except being at the beach and in the water itself. I'd like to ban them, but a couple of them have business's to run and most of guys have wives to say goodnight to. When they were doing that, I was either watching the moon and the stars through the clouds or tuning the satellite radio in to a station that might entertain the lot of us. One dude brought the Firefly series on DVD that I never saw before. Excellent series, what was FOX thinking putting that on Friday nights? Definitely a Tuesday through Thursday, if not Sunday night series. Oh, yeah, the picture. Well, when you get close to interstate 10 on highway 71 in Columbus, Texas, you see these weights hanging down from a sign that reads, If You Hit These, You Will Hit The Bridge. Stuck the camera out of the roof of the Mini and snapped while rolling this morning. Guess a few folk have hit the bridge. Off I go, cya.

Thusday, Big Travel Day

Left Tulsa at dawn this morning and headed for Houston. While still in Oklahoma, I pulled into a shamrock station in some little town off of highway 75 and was filling up the mini with premium when a couple pull up in an SUV and the woman gets out and asks me if I'm a local and can direct her to a nearby church. I'm wearing a blue Hawaiian Dodgers shirt, welder sunglasses, and a soft driving cap, putting gas into a mini convertible with California license plates, and she asks me if I live here. Where is she from? Arkansas? Um, no, I'm not from here, and I have yet to scope out the local religious scene. So she trots into the store to see if anyone there knows. Off I go then...

If it's Saturday...

...It must be Santa Fe. Santa Fe? What the hell am I doing in an artsy fartsy small town in New Mexico? Well my niece was in a broadway theater class for two weeks and it was show case day. I am currently on my annual two week road trip from LA to Tulsa to Houston to the Gulf Coast of Texas since it was happening at the same time, I swung up and glad I am to have done it. And I made it in time for both the 4 PM and 7 PM shows. For a fourteen year old, my niece is doing very well in this theater company. She has been taking jazz dance, ballet, tap, and voice lessons for years, and I had hints that she was good all along and this proves it. As I was copying videos from her mom's camera to this laptop, while being blown away by her impromptu performance here in the room. How does such a deep and soulful voice come from such a tiny teenager? I'm impressed. Her instructors said she improved everyday that she was there. Her mom is beaming, and Uncle Proto is stunned that he is related to someone so talented. Now, about that driving permit next year...

Have a Safe Memorial Day

Hug a serviceman today. Though, not from behind, or you'll be thrown to the mat and have your life threatened.

Opening Day 2008

Wow. A lot of fun today. Picked up a friend who wanted to go two and a half hours before game time and headed for the stadium. As opposed to years past, parking at dodger stadium was a breeze this year. The most congested spot for me was turning onto exposition blvd from sunset. Being a state holiday, traffic downtown was light. Once inside, left our coats and door gifts at the seats and marched through the suite level to the stadium club. Long line to get in, we bypassed that with the story that we were just going to the bar, and not there to eat. Place was already hopping. Three people deep at the hundred foot wide bar and restaurant seating was proceeding. Found some buddies at the bar to stand behind, and with a wave and a wing ordered two of my blue off menu specials. Greeted several folk as they filtered in, asked where they were sitting now, etc. After the second round, headed back to the seats, and watched an emotional opening ceremony with just about every living dodger in the hall of fame was there. Their names would appear on the scoreboard and their picture on the diamond vision and then they would walk out to the position they use to play at. Only the first day and already I've clapped and hollered myself sore and hoarse. What followed was a great game over the hapless giants. Nice to shut them out on opening day. Eighty more home games in the season, and one hundred and sixty one left total. The next six months should be as memorable.

Radio Health

Was driving around at lunch time listening to the radio when the commentator mentioned that we all have access to health care, it's health insurance that the people need. Changes the spin a bit, does it not?
I felt a headache a few days ago, and a fever the night after that. So I knew it was some type of infection, just did not know what kind. Then my left cheek started to swell, 'great' I thought, a problem tooth. Made an appointment with a dentist and told them where it hurt. They saw the irritation and prescribed antibiotics, but did not find a bad tooth. I then let them x-ray the whole mouth and prepare for my cleaning in a couple of weeks. The Dentist calls my house that night and tells me that it's a good thing they x-rayed the works, cause the found the problem root under an artificial crown on the lower left jaw that could cause the pain on the upper left jaw. Lovely so today I call the endodontist to schedule a root-canal pre-op through a cap. That appointment is next Tuesday, and this weekend I am flying to Texas. The last time I was in Texas I had a tooth issue, too. Should I stop planning trips to Texas? Nope, too many friends and family there.
I've been on-call for jury duty all week, but have not been selected. I call in every night and punch in my juror number and pin number but am told by a recording to call again the next night. They better not call me in on Friday, for I have a first class ticket out of here until Monday night. Hopefully the antibiotics will knock the swelling down by then.
Have a happy President's Day weekend...

Happy New Year

How did I spend New Year's Eve 2007? Doing nine weeks of Laundry, baby! Walked the first half dozen loads down in a hamper held about me knees but piled up to my chin downstairs to the laundry area and had full run of the machines for the next six hours or so. Pop in the light loads first, dry the towels last. What a day. Went ten for sixteen on my NFL picks the weekend before, and with the regular season over, there was not much to do, that I wanted to do. Sure, I could have made something up like re-mopping the kitchen, but that can wait until the next weekend, while listening to NFL playoff games coming from the next room or something. So fired up the dual-core system played some user made railroad maps. Wow, there are some creative folk out there to take a simple game and turn it into a journey down the river Styx past the seven deadly sins. Basin and Range custom map has double decked train cars for merchandise hauling and a port to haul them to. The Mexico map was re-worked and doesn't look as good, it needs help, maybe I'll touch it up for the community one day. The USA transcontinental custom map was pretty sharp, when all the commodities were available for all the industries. Needs more planning there. The updated Holiday Scenario making toys, cookies, and egg-nog for the north pole station was a lot of work, and a lot of fun. And the special santa trains played random carols as they left their stations. After finishing all that, I got the bright idea to read up on how to make a custom map for this game. These guys are taking USGS satellite data and using it to build height maps for the mountains and rivers. OMG. This would be a second job in itself, then adding tint layers, blending layers etc for eight layers of fun all to move trains to stations with familiar names. It's one way to learn a little about geography, but I'm not sure I have the time to put off mopping another weekend. Look how long it takes me to do laundry! Happy New Year.

Presents II

My sister and brother-in-law gave me a warmer/cooler thermos like fridge that runs off of a cigarette lighter outlet. The year before it was an air hockey game and the year before that it was a table top race car set. It would fit great on the transmission hump of a van or an SUV, but she knows I have a fourteen month old mini cooper. I think she gives me things that she really wants for herself. Just where am I to put this little monster that can warm a picnic basket or cool a six pack? On the back seat! they all tell me. Not sure I want to put it in the back seat of a convertable. Things could get blown out of there. At least it comes with an AC adapter too. Maybe I could put it in the office near the monitor. C'est la vie, Que sara, sara, and off motoring I go... Thanks Sis.

Presents

Today at work I'm wearing a blue shirt that is similar but better than the one I got two years ago, that is better than the one I received two years before that. All three look the same from a distance, but up close I can tell. I don't care that it's basically the same pattern. At least they are blue, and I like blue. Thanks Mom, Merry Christmas.
At least it wasn't a self made album by Dan Torbin

Purple? Me?

You Should Have a Purple Christmas Tree

For you, the holidays represent a time of creativity and expression.There's no way you'd do something bland simply for tradition's sake. You are an independent person, and you definitely do the holidays your own way.And you're decadent enough to go way over the top with any unusual holiday ideas you have. Your purple tree would look great with: Purple lights and ornaments You should spend Christmas Eve watching: A Christmas Story What you should bake for Santa: "Kitchen sink" cookies - with a ton of things in them

Well, Red is usually my color, and Blue from all those years of Dodger seats.

Put them together, and you may get purple...

Smile, it's the holidays

Just a couple of shots of the artificial tree in the lobby of the building I work in. And a short video clip too. I've seen it for years, but this year they seem to have added a lot more.

Day game fun

Took yesterday as an annual leave day and went to the last weekday day game of the Dodger season. Did not sit down in my seats, but instead made a reservation at the stadium club for brunch and a bottle of wine. The brunch buffet was great, as always. Sat at the glass next to a few other old timers and had fun watching the Dodgers come from behind to tie and eventually win in extra innings. I loaned my tickets to another couple who were going to take clients down to the seats and watch the game close up. They offered to pay for my meal, and of course I agreed. Turns out that their clients did not want to go down there, but stay up in the club. Still got my meal though. Took the rest of my wine to their table when the clients left and enjoyed their conversation until the guards kicked us out about a half hour after the game ended. Went straight home after the game and fell fast asleep. Woke up at three this morning to the sound of thunder. Thunderstorms in Southern California? Very rare indeed, usually left over from a tropical storm from Mexico. Almost no rain, and what little I saw on the ground at 3 AM was gone by the time I went out to the car at 6 AM. Water doesn't seem to last in the desert. Was in the high seventies before the sun came up, and may go over one hundred again today. Maybe I'll find an air-conditioned movie house after work today...

Tooth better?

Early Friday morning, about eleven days ago, I started to get a pain in my upper left jaw. The night before, Rich had burnt the lamb chops on the grill under the beach house, but still served them up as the only meat of the evening. I soaked two of them in applesauce thinking it would help. It didn't and I even chipped a tooth on one of them. Our host had already gone home the night before on a family emergency, more like lots of little things piled up on the spouse and he had to go. I had the keys to the place, [to lock up on Saturday with] but knew I had to see a dentist come dawn on Friday. I asked Tom for a referral, He gave me a card for a dentist in Bay City and I was off as Rich and Bob were waking up and getting ready to pack to go home. Tom and Glen would stay all day Friday. I cross the drawbridge after a barge goes by on the inter coastal waterway and head up the state highway to Bay City. Get out my special Oklahoma cell phone and cheaters and dial the number on the card only to find out that they can not take a new patient today and give me a referral. I call the Bay City Dental office they referred me to, but they had a dentist call in sick and were rescheduling patients. Argh! [throb] I pull up to the original one I was going to and asked them to call around for me. They found a guy a few blocks away that could take me. I cruise over to K street with a twenty mile per hour speed limit, and pull in just fine, only car out front. Announce my presence and they give me a form and take my insurance card. When the dentist arrives, the first thing he does is ask "who has that mini cooper out there? I want to talk to them!" So I rise, and walk outside with him, and press the remote to open the top and let him get in. He impressed with the dash and the room and asks all sorts of questions. I answer as best as I can and finally close it up and we walk back inside. The staff can not believe how good my insurance is, and ask me if I pay extra for it. I do. They x-ray and prod me and perscribe me an anti-biotic to take to clear the infection and to make sure and see a dentist when I get home for that root canal that has to happen. Great, that is what I am going to do today, off to the local dentist in five minutes. The anti-biotic seems to have worked as the pain went away quickly, but it is starting to swell today, so I better go now and get it checked. Cya.

Home, Home, Home

Woke up in Las Cruses last Tuesday morning, and realized I had tickets for that night's Dodger game. Eleven hours later I was there. Thirty two hundred miles of fun during those days, L.A. to the gulf coast of Texas, to Houston, and back. Some poor critter at night ran under my right front tire in west texas. A week later as we were packing up the beach house, my host noticied a bubble in my tire. Looked in my mini-guide for the nearest mini-dealer. Sugarland, Texas. Wouldn't make it by closing that weekend, so instead of heading for L.A. first thing last Monday morning, headed for the dealership, in and out within four hours after describing the issue to the tire insurance company. Then went to my brothers, packed up the rest of my stuff, said bye to my niece and nephew and headed west. Made Las Cruses by midnight, spent the night for free [well, used some rewards points] and then headed west again to make the game. Had the rest of the week off from work, so just kept going to Dodgers games the rest of week and last weekend. It seems when I was gone, they slipped from first to fourth place, by losing seven straight series of games. I'm glad they are starting to win again, but it is a long row to hoe to even get to a wild card spot, let alone back into the western divisions first place. More stories later, back to work I go...

Bacation

Made it to El Paso, had fun driving through Arizona Monsoons, and rush hour in Phoenix. Didn't leave LA until noon, so it was dark when I reached Texas. A little hotel sleep, shower, and head out this morning for a border island beach house on the gulf of mexico. Cya in ten days or so.