The Hungry Hungry Writer

I'm retiring my Blogger Blog!

2006-02-07T05:57:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not retiring from Blogging... I'm retiring THIS blog.

Believe it or not I’ve been ‘blogging’ since January 23, 2004. I started off at Rotten Tomatoes as a forum poster where I discussed films and eventually was one of the original posters in their VPL (Virtual Producer’s Lab) Forums. My very first movie review entry was of "Birthday Girl" with Nicole Kidman in my RT VINE JOURNAL.

A few days later I wrote my first Haiku: The Day and Night in the life of Glenn

And two years later here I am… My RT Journal is ranked 21st in the most active journals list with 85,733 views and 722 journal entries.

I don’t think I can retire that journal because I have a bunch of movie savvy online friends that visit that journal and comment on a daily basis.

But after years of keeping a more ‘personal’ journal at Blogger titled “The Hungry Hungry Screenwriter” because I wanted something more customizable, I am retiring the journal for something even more customizable and of course free. There are just too many Blogger.com blogs that look like mine. The templates available aren’t that creative and I don’t know how to write my own. So I’m using WordPress1.5 which is offered by the website hosting company that I use: Netfirms.com. Blogger.com is free, and very easy to use, and extremely user friendly for the new blogger, but Netfirms.com offers tons of special things like WordPress1.5 and Forums and even eCommerce. I’m paying for hosting already so I might as well get the most of my money and use all the different features. Plus, there are tons of great blog templates that I can choose from. The learning curve wasn’t that long and I’m beginning to figure out how to customize everything!

There you have it. Good bye Blogger Blog and hello WordPress1.5 Blog.

So here is the grand opening, or whatever you want to call it, of the my new online Blog!

Welcome to THE HUNGRY WRITER! Hope you enjoy!

Fatigue…

2006-02-06T05:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was so tired… I biked 12+ miles, came home and grabbed the family. We went to Walgreens to drop off a prescription, went to the Mall, shopped at Target… and I resisted buying Xbox games since I over did the purchases last month. Then we went back to Walgreens to pick up the prescriptions, then went to Islands for lunch. I was tired! The kids… they were at home waiting for me to come home from the bike ride then got in the car and sat in shopping carts at Target…

And who fell asleep on the way to Islands?

And I was the one tired. They don’t have tons of similarities except for looks. She’s a girly-girl and he’s totally a boy. But they sure looked alike in the way they fell asleep in their car seats!

We couldn’t eat at Islands because they were asleep so we took it home.

I almost feel asleep before the Superbowl but got off the couch and went to Virgil’s for electric tape and VONS for milk, chicken breast (for dinner) and salsa for my chips.

Then during the first half I taped up my bike handlebars which kept me awake. I was out like a light by 11:00 PM.

Super Bowl Sunday

2006-02-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

That was a pretty uneventful Super Bowl. The beer of choice was…

Pilsner Urquell.

During the first half I was taping up my handlebars. The last half I sat down with chips, dip and a beer and tried to watch the game while the kids climbed all over me or ran around the house making noise. With five minutes left I had a plate of food on my lap and another beer at my side.

It ended as I thought - Steelers winning outright. I wanted Bettis to score though and I was shocked at the turnovers by Roethlisberger but not surprised by Matt Hasselbeck's pick. That’s the only thing that stood out in the game for me. So yeah – it was uneventful. Another year to go for another one of my Super Bowl parties!

But before the Super Bowl I went for a ride. 12.3 miles in 46.33. It was a lot of fun. Then the family went to Target and Island’s for lunch. Yum.

Sushi A Go-Go

2006-02-04T23:58:00.000-08:00

Production meeting for Sushi A Go-Go…

It turns out that I’ll probably be doing a page one rewrite on the script. There’s a lot in the draft that I can use already, but going off of a new outline and free writing it like you would a new script feels better. I can cut and paste scenes but it probably will feel like I did just that.

Tonight Dale and I met for almost three hours to discuss first act structure. It seems like we are on the same page (so-to-speak) on the structure. Getting started on it is the tough thing. I really feel like treating it like a new script versus a rewrite on an old.

We’ll see.

See my training log for today: Triathlete Nut’s Training Log Blog

Did you know I use to tap?

2006-02-03T05:08:00.000-08:00

Yes… I use to tap dance. And that’s way past tense.

Here’s the story. It’s never been told in detail. Some may have heard bits and pieces. Others may have even witnessed it first hand live or on video, but none have really known the mindset of my tap dancing phase. Here is where you will finally hear the story.

Just released from prison, I had to decide which of my previous professions to return to - burglar or tap dancer. I dabbled with cat burglary but found fame and fortune in tap.

No, not really. If it was that glamorous I may have reason to maybe brag about the whole ordeal. Unfortunately that’s not the case. But it is the synopsis for Gregory Hines’ (may he rest in piece) movie, “TAP” and not my movie, “Glenn’s Life” (coming soon to a blog near you).

Back in the late 80s I was suffering through an ECON major at UCLA. I knew I’d eventually finish college with a degree I really didn’t want. There goes the entertainment field, I thought. And once in my life outside of highschool, I wanted to perform on stage. I knew I wouldn’t be able to nail a lead role in a play or anything and found a small dance studio in Glendale. I decided that I could be like Gregory Hines and make it as a tap dancer. I didn’t know anything about tap dancing and soon realized classic tap is not the style Gregory Hines was doing. But I figured it was a good base as I looked for jazz tap dancing studios. At least I’d get my feet wet.

This is when I commited to a stage performance put on by the dance studio. It was to be held at the Glendale Highschool Auditorium. It sounded like fun. I’d be performing on stage! And the small group of adult beginner tap students (which included me) chose a song to perform to. Unfortunately I had no say in the costume. I figured it’d be like Gregory Hines. Casual, cool, jazzy… you know… something I could be proud of.

That wasn’t the case. It was some tight tight baby blue dance pants with a silver sequin vest over a very “Sienfeldesque” shirt. It was totally gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that) but this is not what I expected! But I sucked it up and did it anyway.

Speeding through to the performance… only a select few were invited. And they laughed their ASSES OFF as I danced on stage. Not because it was funny-funny… but because it was funny that I was up there doing what I was doing and wearing what I was wearing. I guess it was kinda funny-funny. My sister videotaped it for prosperity. I think the tape mysteriously dissapeared.

I never put on my tap shoes after that day. Not once. I was retired.

On a side note… later in life I did perform on stage once again. This time as comic relief in two different plays in Hollywood. It’s never too late no matter what profession you had to settle with.

And that, as they say, is that. And now on to my writing life…

Read about my Tri-training here:

(TriathleteNut's Training Log Blog)

The TriathleteNut's Training Blog...

2006-02-02T06:02:00.000-08:00

Who's the TriathleteNut? That's me! And here's my training blog!

Training, training, training… I decided to create a blog dedicated to my training. My training logs can be found at www.beginnertriathlete.com but you have to be a registered member at the site. So here are my daily logs all into a RED blog. Red for passion. Or because it was the coolest template I’ve found.

These are the images I made to indicate the different stages of a triathlon.

Enjoy!

The TriathleteNut

I love sports!!!

2006-02-02T05:57:00.000-08:00

Am I the only one who can't wait for this? Baseball is my all time favorite sport. Out of all the sports packages to buy on DirecTV... Hockey, Football, Basketball... I always purchase the baseball package.

This means I can watch Baseball almost every night! Not that I sit there and watch, but its playing in the b.g. Maybe this is why Jake loves baseball more than any sport he plays.

Just hearing a game being called puts me into a comfortable mood. If it’s Vin Scully it is even better. It’s funny hearing other announcers from different stadiums talk about things like traffic getting to and from the stadium. Some announcers out there are so boring it’s amazing they have a job.

The Olympics need to happen on a yearly basis. This is another one of those sporting events that I relish and look forward to!

And once every year I have my Annual Superbowl Party!

Usually its just me and a couple of beers… and that’s not going to change much this year except a couple of beers may be just one beer.

The only question is... What will the beer be and who am I picking to win???

Here’s last year’s entry with the same question… (Last Year’s Superbowl Entry I chose Guiness Stout. Which was kinda heavy. This year it will be a light beer. Maybe Coors. Low in calories.

This will be SquintKid’s 6th Annual Superbowl Party! Whoo hoo!

Adrenaline shots and Ironman competitions

2006-01-31T22:07:00.000-08:00

Epinephrine—also called adrenaline—is a synthetic human hormone available as an orally inhaled, nonprescription drug to relieve temporary shortness of breath, chest tightness, and wheezing due to bronchial asthma. Epinephrine is also available as a prescription drug used by injection in emergencies, including acute asthma attacks and severe allergic reactions.

I had an adrenaline shot today due to some allergic reaction I had at the doctor’s office. I was jittery for about fifteen minutes, my heart raced and eventually I felt tired. It’s funny to see the nurse panic. I asked her if she was going to stick me in the leg. Images of Pulp Fiction and Uma Thurman getting stuck in the chest flashed in my head. Instead, the doctor told me to look away and take a breath and then he injected me in my arm.

I’m allergic to everything. I just had to live with it all my life. Hopefully I can get it under control now.

I’m on new medication which has helped me breath better. And I’ve noticed a difference in just five days. My workouts aren’t as much as a struggle, I’m not gasping for air as quickly as before, and it feels like I can go longer on my swims, rides and runs! It’s awesome. What a difference. It’s great news as far as my future as a Triathlete is concerned.

This weekend I was more convinced than ever that an Ironman competition is in my future. I will complete one someday. My hope is that I’ll get a spot in the Road to Kona Ironman Competition one year. That’s the one I want to do but it’s a lottery pick. So chances are slim. I need to qualify in other events prior to it. My goal is the Road to Kona 2008. Two years. Which means 2007 I’ll have to do some other Ironman competitions.

And so it goes- adrenaline shots and Ironman competitions. The life of Glenn.

Another great weekend come and gone

2006-01-30T06:14:00.000-08:00

Don’t you hate that?

We tried to see "Nanny McPhee" yesterday but 777film.com screwed us on the movie time(also called MoviePhone and as the url on the webpage shows movies.aol.com). I’ve been screwed up three times now using the Internet for movie times. Two times using Yahoo and yesterday using that stupid website - 777film.com. AMC theater customer service told us to use their website next time which is what we’ll do.

So no movie for us. But we ate a great Japanese Restaurant in Burbank called, Kabuki. Jake likes Yellow Tail Sushi! YUM. That’s my boy!

On Saturday Night we ate at BCD Tofu House in Korea Town. It was awesome! So this weekend was filled with good food. Which meant I needed to work out harder. Which I did starting on Friday night.

It was a great food weekend with three days of solid workouts as well!

Which leads me to Triathlon nervousness.

Just think… I came off the couch less two months ago and decided to train for a Triathlon. I ran 3 miles for the first time in SIX years. Six years ago I did a three mile ‘cheat’ around the rose bowl when Donna was pregnant with Jake. We were trying to ‘walk him out’ of her belly! We cut the parking lot a little more than half way through so I didn’t actually run it. I walked it. And it wasn't three miles. I bought a road bike and got on it a couple of times so far. The last time I got on a bike was NINE years ago when I raced my BMX bike on BMX tracks around SoCal. And the last time I had a recreational swim was in my dad’s small pool back in 2004. Little did I know I had to relearn the way I knew how to swim in order to actually have endurance to do more than ONE lap in a 25 meter pool!

And now…

It’s thirteen days before my first Triathlon. I’m cutting it real close! I managed to do 10 miles on the bike for the first time on Saturday in forty minutes. How am I going to find time to put more miles on the bike in thirteen days? It’s going to be tough! I’ll have to ride on my trainer while the kids are asleep. Swimming is okay. Not great. But okay. On Friday I did 500 meters and on Sunday I did 300 meters in fourteen minutes with no fins. I think I could do 100 yards in four minutes or less but I’m still struggling with technique and it affects my stamina. When my technique feels good I’m gliding, when I find myself trying too hard to find the right stroke, I’m tiring and have to swim on my side or back for a few meters in order to relax and get back into it. I can run 3 miles in under 30 minutes if I need to but I can’t tire my legs out too much before I get on the bike.

So… my goal is to finish this Triathlon (5K RUN/10MI BIKE/100YD SWIM) in less than an hour and fifteen minutes. 30 min run + 40 min bike + 4 min swim = 114 minutes or an hour and fourteen minutes!

But that doesn’t take into account I’ll be doing three sports all in a row. Yikes!

That also doesn’t take into account my transition times - getting my bike gear, bike shoes and running the bike out of T1, then tossing my helmet, gloves, shoes and socks off while putting my swim goggles on the way to the pool after T2.

I’m so nervous. I’ve had nightmares about not packing my gear the night before and scrambling to figure out what to bring the morning of the Triathlon. I need to learn how to change a flat tire before the 12th. And on the 12th I need to leave the house by 5:00 AM to get there for registration. I’ve had dreams of not finding my bike during the transition. I’ve had nightmares of reaching for my water bottle while on the bike and finding an empty bottle cage.

I'm sure the nightmares will continue even as I get more experience in Triathlons. But till then... I need to focus on the 13 days as I approach the start of the race!

New Helmet, New Glasses, a Tri Seat and Aerobars!

2006-01-29T18:30:00.000-08:00

I finally got a new helmet. I don’t know why I waited so long. I was squeezing my head into an XS, which wasn’t too bad, but my size is S. Yes, I should have been thinking about my safety first. XS was tight around the temples but it would have protected me if I fell. My hat size is not that big and I’m probably in between the XS and S. The S is obviously more comfortable and I’m glad I bought it. It looks cool too! It’s a Pneumo by Giro. ($128 on Sale! Reg: $159)

I also had to purchase sunglasses that don’t slide down my face when I bike or run. I was using my driving glasses and that just didn’t cut it. So I got some Oakley Half Jacket’s for $105. I already have a pair of Oakely M-Frames with a clear lens but it’s an older model (1997) and the new lenses don’t fit on it for some reason. So I can wear those on the non-bright days. But the Half Jackets are nice. ($105)

Also, I was able to install my Tri Seat and test it out. The seat added more ‘room’ to move and also a tip that was more comfortable – especially when hammering down on the cranks while in an ‘aero’ position. I tend to scoot up to the very front of the seat or tip as I do this and it is uncomfortable to say the least. The Tri Seat added comfort as I got into this position and it is made to dry the pad of your TriSuit after a swim. ($60 on sale! Reg: $80)

And finally I dared to install the Aerobars which I’ve had for a while. Getting to and from the Aerobars was a little scary. I literally have to inch my way into them and out of them as I bike for fear of losing control as I let go of the bars. And if I’m pedaling at the same time, I go ‘squirly’ so I stop pedaling. Then I resume and tuck in to see how fast I can get without getting too scared. I managed to hit a top speed of 27 mph on Saturday on a very slight decent at the Rose Bowl. ($60 on sale! Reg: $98)

Now all I need are legs and I’m set. (I'll pay full price + for those!)

It’s all my fault…

2006-01-27T06:32:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to see your child in pain. It’s hard to see the trepidation and fear in his face and hear it in his voice when he asks, "is that it? Is there anymore?" after a shot in his arm. And you have to say, "yes… four more..." - which is only a disguise because there’s actually THIRTY TWO needles on four trays. One shot is bad enough. 4 x 8 shots is torture for a five year old boy with skinny little arms. In the case of allergy testing, it’s a set of FOUR trays with eight needles on each tray. A total of 32 shots per se.

And that's where we were for two hours yesterday afternoon. The allergist.

It started with a test on his arm - the normal area for a shot. It was one poke of two little needles. He cried in pain. I too had the same test yesterday. It felt like the sting of a bee. When the doctor saw that his skin reacted "correctly" to the shot they took a pen and drew four areas (or panels) on his forearms and labeled them ABC&D. Each area would be ‘poked’ with a panel of eight needles and the reaction would show different types of things he was allergic to.

They pressed the first two panels on his biceps and he cried in pain – Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow… Eight tiny needles poked into his left bicep and eight tiny needles into his right. All at the same time! It wasn’t a horrific cry of pain but it was horrific for me – a parent seeing his child in pain and unable to do anything to ease it.

Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow...

And then two more panels were pressed simultaneously onto his left and right forearms. Poor guy.

Bella watched with concern. Thankful she didn't have to. But she probably will when she's five.

And its ALL MY FAULT. I have the allergies. I have asthma. And those traits have been passed down to him and Bella.

All my life I’ve suffered.

And now we have to decide whether or not for Jake to have a weekly allergy shot. SIXTY THREE in one year. Then one a month for the next three to five years.

We have to weigh the pros – his ability to live a normal life without reaction to things he’s allergic to, and the cons – the risk of something happening during his treatment. They keep the kids in their office for thirty minutes after being given a shot to make sure they don’t have a bad reaction. It could result in something bad – but we were told only 5% chance. Why risk even that chance on your most prized and beloved possession???

These treatments will NOT cure the allergies – but they will control them. The shots actually are an injection of what you are allergic to. Low doses that your body gets use to. And eventually high doses – the ones you are around like dust, grass, pollen, food – will not do you harm.

I’ll be getting the same test done next Tuesday. I’m a bit nervous about getting poked like Jacob did… but he did it. And I’m so proud of him. Now its my turn.

He’s allergic to peanuts – as we found out in a very frightful night. Also he’s allergic to all the dusts and grass and even oranges! And he loves oranges!!!

In the end he asked – and this is enough to make his UNCLE JAMES CRY LIKE THE GIRL THAT HE IS… “Can I play with Maddie now?” (Uncle James and Jenny’s dog)

How sad, huh?

Hopefully… yes he can.

Here are a few pics of the very traumatic event.

If you are an Allergist you better be nice and cool, because what kids have to go through, you don’t want them to hate you even more because of your bedside manners.

And our doctor is totally cool. The nurses are great and the office is extremely kid-friendly. Even I like going there!

I'm committed...

2006-01-25T14:26:00.000-08:00

It’s official. I’m signed up for my first Triathlon event. The 7th Annual Redlands Triathlon/Duathlon & 5K Run/Walk. So no turning back now. I’m committed. Every day I’m more nervous than the last. But I’m so looking forward to it.

And after that, it’s serious training for another Sprint Triathlon in May in beautiful San Diego with an open water swim! I’m really looking forward to that one! It’s the Xterra Wetsuits Spring Sprint Triathlon! (Jenny and James may need to put us up for a couple of days!)

In June I’m looking forward to the Redondo Beach Sprint Triathlon.

And in July I want to do a relay Sprint Triathlon with my cousin and his son in Sacramento. The July TRI for FUN Sprint Triathlon.

So my calendar is filled!

Rewrite motivation

2006-01-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

Again I’m awake. But this time it’s 4:30 AM. Three and a half hours of sleep.

Why did I get to bed so late?

Well, last night I went through some script notes by a trusted online friend that ripped one of my scripts apart. It’s been about four years since I last read them – maybe more. But boy, was it harsh (in a constructive way) and totally on the money. He picked through all the holes and focused on everything he didn’t like in the script. First prefacing the critique with his opinion and respect for me as a writer and then going for my throat. It’s what I asked him to do. I told him to tear it apart. It was THE BEST analysis of the script I’ve ever received. It wasn’t sugar coated, it wasn’t just an overall view, it was a detailed dissection of the script and everything that DID NOT work. He did point out the things he liked but really didn’t focus on them. Everything else worked… it was what he pointed out that didn’t - and he pointed out a lot.

I think that’s one reason I put the script aside. It was just too much work

I recently read the script. It’s okay. It’s doable. It’s simple and if someone wanted to shoot it, it’s probably ready to go. But its not as good as it should be.

Two different parties have shown interest in it this year. Yet I have yet to get motivated to start on the rewrite passing the script off as ‘good enough.’ Well… it isn’t. So after reading the critique once again it made me feel like Charlie Kaufman in “Adaptation” where he utters his mantra, “I am fat, I am old, I am bald, I am repulsive, I can’t write.”

Except I’m not bald.

Last night I sat through and rewrote for two and a half hours making it to page 36 of the 100+ page feature. It felt good. It felt right. It felt different to be eight years removed from the original 1998 Chesterfield Fellowship Semi-Finalist script - which I wrote at age thirty - to be thirty eight years old and really seeing the characters in a completely different light. Instead of writing the characters to meet my age, social status, career and view of the future, I’m able to push them back to College years where finishing college is a very important goal, the future is not career but passing a class, and true love is still a concept. Along the way you find love, you suffer from heartbreak and you see your best friends start their future. It makes the characters more identifiable to more people. They are less set in their ways and more spontaneous, love sick, romantic and desperate. It felt good. It made me want to stay home and write – which I haven’t been inclined to do lately.

So the writing will continue.

I feel like a writer once again.

Prior to my rewriting I had a great workout!!!

So on to…

TRI-TRAINING NEWS…

My legs were still fatigued from Monday night’s hard run so I did a very easy 30 minute 2.5 miles. I’m talking easy, easy, easy. I built up a good sweat, my heart rate was around Zone 3 as a guess, but it didn’t matter. I was going for time versus miles. And all the way to the gym I kept trying to come up with an excuse to head back home.

I headed upstairs to do weight training and decided to push my sets to three instead of two. Last week I added ten more pounds to my weights on most of my sets. So I’m doing an extra set with more weight now. It’s awesome. It felt so damn good to walk out of the gym exhausted. It was a very leg-intensive workout as well. They were sore. I’m also trying to do a short core workout every time I go to the gym even if it’s not my core training day.

I haven’t logged any swim time in a while mostly because I’ve been too lazy to do the whole, change into swim clothes, get wet, get dry, change to workout clothes, run and do weights. But I’m motivated to do that tomorrow, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I’m aiming for four straight days of swim time!

IN X-BOX ADDICTION NEWS…

I love FIFA 06.

Jake is okay with it. He’d like it better if it was easier to score. He’s pretty good on the defensive end so that’s a plus for me. I let him score from time to time and one goal per game is enough to keep him interested. Sometimes he’s able to get a goal on his own which is good. Giving him a one goal lead presses me to try and find a way to score one on my. If I can get at least a tie we go into the penalty shot mode as a tie breaker - which is fun. This game is absolutely fun. It’s one of my favorite games. The only problem is that it is incredibly hard to score. I can get several shots off, I’ve figured out all the passing and ball handling techniques, but I just can’t figure out how to place my shots with accuracy.

This is a serious challenge and one of X-Box’s best games to ever come out!

Why do people have weather vains?

2006-01-24T05:30:00.000-08:00

-It just wakes people up at night.

"Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right." -The Beatles

I’m sitting in bed at 4:45 in the morning because I can’t sleep. I’m not a sound sleeper. With medication that problem could be fixed. There’s probably a technical or scientific name for it. Let’s just call it paranoia.

Every noise in the night is something to investigate. Every noise, even the smallest bit of one, wakes me. I can hear Jake move in his room because his ‘doggie’ rattles quietly. Bella talks in her sleep and when she does I lay there frozen, waiting to hear her call for me. And when she doesn’t call I go check on her anyway. If Jake sneezes it immediately puts me into nosebleed readiness. If Bella coughs I’m ready to get her water. I sleep a little more sound when Donna is home. But three nights a week I’m ‘on call’. There’s nobody to nudge and ask, “Can you check on them?”

Last night Bella was talking in her sleep. It was 12:45 AM. I went to check on her and she was at the foot of her bed sound asleep. I moved her up to her pillow and tucked her in. 2:00 AM Jake heard something – I heard it first. It’s our neighbor’s WEATHER VANE that spins and whistles when the wind blows. “Papa?” He didn’t even need to ask. I told him it was the wind. At 4:30 he needed to pee. Thus ended my night.

In nearly six years I can’t remember the last time I slept sound through the night.

IN TRI-TRAINING NEWS...

The New Year's Report about gym memberships is right. January is the month for new memberships due to the whole New Year’s Resolution thing. And yes, the gym has been packed!!! By March nobody will be there. But man, there are a ton of people at the gym in January.

Despite the crowd I managed to find ONE treadmill available at 7:45 PM. I had a great overall workout last night. I ran 2.5 miles at a fast pace to see how long I could last in Zone 5 of my heart rate: 164-182 bpm. Within four minutes I was there. At the twelve minute mark I was above Zone 5 and I stayed past my Maximum bpm for the remainder of the run peaking at 201 bpm finishing the 2.5 miles in 24:15 - a 9:66 mile average. My recovery was quite fast tough which is good. I know I can do the run on Feb 12th and get on the bike without too much fatigue. Then I did some serious core training for an hour using a Swiss Ball and weights then called it a night. It felt good to go all out!

I think my body is getting use to my night workouts. I was reading a magazine in bed and my eyes could not focus after a while. I dozed off with my light on. The sleep felt good. Unfortunately it lasted only a couple of hours before I had to do the nightly checks. I may have gone all night with a sound sleep.

The “SUN” from The Gilded Tarot deck.

The Beatles - "Here Comes the Sun"
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right

Couch Potato Stuff

2006-01-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was a little disappointed that I missed the first episode of “Emily’s Reasons Why Not” on ABC. A show based on the best selling book by Carrie Gerlach. I didn’t read the book, nor do I think the book’s premise sounds that interesting. But with Heather Graham in the staring role, I figured it could be a decent series. Possibly a prime time version of “Sex in the City” without all the cuss words and sex edited out as they do in “Sex in the City” syndications.

But I guess I didn’t miss much as the TV show is cancelled. With 6 episodes ‘in the can’, ABC does not want to market the show anymore because they don’t think they can get viewers to watch it. There was a ton of pre marketing that was done. But after seeing the first episode they realized it wasn’t a show worthy of any more time and money. Yet there are still billboards around town advertising the show - an already cancelled show at that. Hollywood is weird. Apparently the studio never saw the first script and only saw the show after it was aired (as reported on the news this morning). Yeah right. How is that at all possible? Too bad. Too sad.

“Scrubs” better get Heather Graham back on board because she was great on that show.

“Battlestar Galactica” wasn’t that great this past episode. I was looking forward to more action and drama. It was more drama. After last week’s episode, you’d expect more. But they pulled back a little and went with a theme all too common in our daily lives lately – terrorism. It definitely was a glimpse to tons of complications to come. I thought we were going to lose Mary McDonnell’s character this week. I’m glad we didn’t.

Did I miss the season premiere of “24”? I watched the two hour episode from this past week. Hours 9:00 thru 11:00. Apparently I missed the first two hours. I need to set the SAVE UNTIL I DELETE option for this show on TiVo. I guess I know what’s going on based on the recap portion, but still, some things are a little unclear. It was a very high intense episode though. Just like all of them are. What a fun show to watch!

If only I didn’t have to sit through the crap that is “Desperate Housewives” before “Grey’s Anatomy” comes on, Sunday nights would be great TV. I only sit through it because Donna watches it and then “Grey’s Anatomy” comes on and we watch that together. This is one of the best shows on TV. The writing is great! It’s the one show Donna and I tend to watch together. The characters, story, medical drama stuff – its not ER intense but intense enough. It’s definitely driven by character romance. A perfect place for it too. A hospital where Seattle is the backdrop.

And I knew this would happen after episode one of this season – That 70s Show is being cancelled after its finale in May. Yeah, the show, one I considered the best comedy on TV at one time, really really sucked this season. It’s so bad it’s hard to watch. Yet I still force myself to sit through the mess since I’m a dedicated fan. Unfortunately, they need to get rid of it. There wasn’t even a ‘jump the shark’ episode. But maybe there will be one just to go through the process of a show dying. I think maybe the crew should take a road trip to Los Angeles and have Fez really jump the shark in the Pacific Ocean. A Tribute show to Happy Days and the historic show that eventually coined the phrase of ‘jump the shark’ as the show where a series eventually starts to die.

Other shows of note that I’m still watching…
American Idol
How I met Your Mother
Two And a Half Men
Scrubs
My Name is Earl (where production just stopped because Jason Lee has chicken pox which is very dangerous for an adult)

Show’s I’m waiting for to start up again…
Over There
The Sopranos
Curb your Enthusiasm
Survivor
Big Brother

I hate Sunday nights!

2006-01-22T22:38:00.000-08:00

Mensa Quiz of the Day answer below…

Sunday nights… I’ve learned to hate em. Sometimes it comes and goes and you don’t realize it, but when you have a great weekend and then Sunday night comes and you realize it’s almost over, it’s hard to let go of the past two days. You don’t want the day or the night to end. At least I don’t. Because after a great weekend, going to work on Monday morning is not the way to cap it all off. To solve this problem, Monday should be a day of rest and relaxations. I bet everyone agrees.

I hung out at work Friday just to get some confirmation on charges for AICD’s we perform at the hospital. The boss wasn’t in all afternoon so I did some preliminary calculations on charges and costs and reran a full years worth of data. I discovered different issues in this analysis versus the one I did in August. Which means more work for someone else who needs to correct the problem(s). But who wants to hear about that?

I got home on Friday night and was completely worn out. Two hours of sleep the night before, a long day at work, and Friday night traffic. We had a quick easy “Griller” hamburger dinner and I got the kids to bed at 7:00. I was in bed at 7:30 and was out like a light.

1:00 AM… Jacob peed in his bed. I swear he went to the bathroom before bed but maybe not. So I got him changed and he crawled into bed with me. 4:00 AM… Jacob peed in my bed. WHAT THE HELL?!?! I got him clothes, put a towel on the small wet spot and told him to get changed and get back to sleep. I was a complete zombie during all this.

And Saturday morning I think the kids hit a record on sleeping in. Jake woke up at 7:15 and Bella woke up at 7:45. Donna got back from work at 8:45 and Jake and I raced to his baseball tryouts.

It was packed. And he was the smallest one out there. I was a little nervous until I saw him out there on his own doing what he does best – making the coaches think ‘who’s that little kid out performing the big kids’. Yeah, his bat isn’t as strong as the others, but he was hitting every ball that came his way and never flinched, never blinked and ALWAYS kept his eye on the ball. He charged the ball and stepped and threw. There was a lot of praise from the coaches who were evaluating the kids.

Two hours of baseball and we went to the Galleria for pretzels and sunglass shopping.

We played video games when we got home and then we took a nap. My dad took Bella to church so it was Donna sleeping and Jake and I joining her at around 1:00.

Later that night we went to my sister’s house for a baby shower and stayed up late. It was fun.

Sunday we all went to the Rose Bowl. Jake biked while I ran the 3.1 miles. After many stops because he was tired, we finally finished in 34 minutes. Not bad. Especially after a pace of walking as he biked up the incline.

We visited the bike store to get him some hand brakes, went to the Montrose Farmer’s Market and came for naps. I watched most of the Pittsburgh/Denver game before falling asleep. Then we went to the Galleria, got a humidifier at Sharper Image, picked up food at CPK and Donna and I had a nice full glass of Pinot Grigio with the dinner. Finally, all of us cuddled up in bed to watch “The Incredibles”.

The Incredibles (2004)
My Rating: 10/10
My Review: An incredible movie. Watch it. Own it. Know it.

Can a weekend get any better than that?

And here I am dreading morning.

And those interested in the answer to the Mensa Quiz of the day for Friday, here is the answer…

QUESTION FOR JAN 20:
You have decided to take your morning run in preparation for the local marathon at an average speed of 6 miles per hour. Unfortunately, you are not in as good shape as you thought, and you are running uphill. You find that you complete a half of the run, all uphill, at an average speed of only 3 miles per hour. How fast must you run to make the return trip-all downhill-at an average speed for the entire round trip of 6 miles per hour?

ANSWER:
You can’t do it at all. For example, if your run is 6 miles, you would have to do it in one hour to average 6 miles per hour. However, you’ve already taken an hour to do the first half of the run, thereby using all the available time.

I'm not a genius. I just fake it.

2006-01-20T15:18:00.000-08:00

Someone at work gave me a book called, “The Mensa Genius: Quiz-A-Day Book”

For some reason they think I’m a genius at work. Little do they know that I’m just a good actor.

So before I signoff, here’s the “Quiz for the day”. I like this one because it deals with marathons, running and time so I can relate.

You have decided to take your morning run in preparation for the local marathon at an average speed of 6 miles per hour. Unfortunately, you are not in as good shape as you thought, and you are running uphill. You find that you complete a half of the run, all uphill, at an average speed of only 3 miles per hour. How fast must you run to make the return trip-all downhill-at an average speed for the entire round trip of 6 miles per hour?

Note: It’s a bit tricky!!!

"10" gets a "7".

2006-01-20T05:50:00.000-08:00

And that's because of Dudley Moore and not a nude Bo Derek.

Two hours. That’s the time I spent sleeping.

I couldn’t sleep so I watched last week’s episode of “How I met your Mother”, an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” at 10:30, then watched the “American Idol” episode from Wednesday and finally I finished watching “10” staring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek. I went to the bathroom about seven times last night from 11:00 PM till 4:30 AM. I also was so thirsty during the night I had a water bottle by my bed.

“Grey’s Anatomy” is one of the best shows on Television next to “Battlestar Galactica” by the way. Oh and American Idol is THE BEST show on TV today. I’m a sucker for this stupid show. At least I can acknowledge its stupid and a waste of time okay?

Back to sleep deprivation…

I fell asleep around 2:45 AM. At 4:30 I woke up and went to the bathroom and was wide awake.

I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the day today. I was so ready to fall asleep but just couldn’t do it.

So here’s a quick review of “10”.

“10” (1979)
My rating: 7/10

First off, Dudley Moore is hella funny. I’ve always loved the guy. This was always seen as a “Bo Derek” movie. But she’s really not on screen that long and when she wasn’t talking, she had this blank look on her face. I guess she played the part perfect because her character was pretty blah anyway. Dudley Moore couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. His idea of the perfect “10”. But how your mind changes when you finally get to know the person. And when he had the opportunity to fulfill his fantasy with her, he got to know her which gave him some sort of epiphany about love and marriage and he realized she wasn’t the perfect “10”.

Brian Dennehy, in one of his first roles, played the part of the bartender. Many years and tons of screen credits later he played Chris Farely’s dad in “Tommy Boy.” The woman he was going to marry in “Tommy Boy” was… Bo Derek! “10” was done real early in Dennehy’s career and he has a long list of movies since then. Bo Derek did “10”, that Tarzan movie and “Tommy Boy”. She did some non significant movies here and there but that’s about it. I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I’m not even trying to compare the two careers. One’s an actor and the other a model of sorts. I guess my point is that Dennehy and Derek were in “10” and then showed up sixteen years later in “Tommy Boy” together. Full circle maybe? It was cooler when I first thought of that. I guess you had to be there – in my brain.

Back to Dudley Moore. What ever happened to him? I think I remember he had a drinking problem - like his character “Arthur”. I believe he died a few years ago. I liked him in the “Arthur” movies and especially liked him in “Like Father Like Son” with Kirk Cameron. Speaking of Kirk Cameron, what ever happened with him? I loved him as Mike Seaver on “Growing Pains” and couldn’t resist watching bits and pieces of the “Growing Pains” television movie reunions that have come out through the years.

Anyway, here’s a quick wrap up of “10”. You don’t need to watch it unless you want to watch a Dudley Moore movie. It’s funny. But not that funny. I’d rather you watch “Like Father Like Son” instead. If you want to watch Bo Derek, rent that Tarzan movie because, although she’s nude in “10”, it’s not enough for anyone to drool over.

24 days left and counting.

2006-01-19T22:48:00.000-08:00

Feb 12th is coming up fast. Am I ready for this Triathlon thingy? We’ll know in a few weeks!

On Sunday the family and I drove to a bike shop that specializes in Triathlon bikes and clothing. Unfortunately the selection of clothing was very limited due to the off-season of Triathlons. But they did have some Tri-specific bikes I was drooling over. Maybe someday I’ll be able to afford one of those.

I picked out a Trisuit, a Tri-tank and Tri-shorts. Jake and I went into the dressing room and I tried on the tank and shorts first.

I liked the tri-shorts. They have padding that dries quick. That way you’re not biking 10 or more miles with a wet seat which could lead to some serious chaffing!

As I adjusted the tri-tank Jake started cracking up. I asked him why he was laughing. He told me that he was laughing because my belly was sticking out. Yeah, it kinda was. You see, these tank tops are made extremely tight. They are also made so that you can pull up the bottom part to cool off your body while you run. It ends up looking like a bra of some sort. A kind of ‘Manzier’ as Kramer and Frank Costanza call it. Although my tummy is flatter than it has been in twenty or so years, I wasn’t comfortable wearing a manzier as I run down the street. So that was out of the question.

So I tried on the Tri-suit.

No laugher. Just, “that’s cool.” The suit actually makes me look pretty slender, so that was what I bought. I also purchased a bike shirt to wear over the suit when I bike.

Thank goodness they had my size in everything. I didn’t want to chance ordering the clothing online, and having it be too small or too big and having nothing by February 12th. I mean, sure, I can change into bike shorts and swim trunks during the transition stages, but that just takes time and energy. I really don’t want to worry about that stuff. I just want to go-go-go!

I also purchased a tri-seat by Profile Design.

At least I’ll have some comfort on the bike. I hope it’s a flat course.

The Sprint Triathlon I’m doing is a backwards event. Run/Bike/Swim. I’m not sure I like that idea now. At first I thought it was great that running came first. But with how I struggled through a 250 meter swim tonight, I’m not so confident I can do the swim with fatigued legs. Especially after a 5 mile run and 10 mile ride. I swam using mostly arms tonight and I was really struggling with my breathing techniques. It was very disappointing!

Well, there you have it. I’m ready to go and I can’t wait. I’m nervous, but I still can’t wait. I just hope I can get this lingering feeling of being sick out of my system!

Life can change while buying milk, apples and creamer.

2006-01-18T06:21:00.000-08:00

How often does this happen in your life...

You get in line to pay for groceries when a masked man in a ski mask with cut-out holes for his eyes and gloves his hands puts a gun to the back of the cashier and says, “Give me the money.”

Well, last night it happened to me. Well, not to me directly but directly in front of me.

I went to the quick check out line - the 10 items or less line. I thought I was lucky because I expected to be in a long line but there was only one guy in front of me. Our cashier was acting odd and with good reason. There was a guy about five foot six standing behind him with a gun to his back. The cashier was fumbling with the register when the robber walked away saying, "I'll be back".

The cashier (as well as everyone else who could see) watched him walk over to another cashier. I didn’t see what happened but this is what went down based on what our cashier and another cashier told us after the event.

The robber went to another cashier and held him up. The young cashier behind the register said he looked at him like it was a joke and waited for a laugh. But the robber said, “I’m serious, man!” So he managed to open the register and hand him a stack of bills. The robber then went to two other registers and did the same.

During this time I stood there waiting. Wondering what was going on. Obviously this was a joke right. I mean the guy in front of me looked all patient and relaxed and he admitted he thought it was a joke. The people at the Panda Inn line weren't really freaking out from what I witnessed. The Starbucks customers and workers weren't freaking out. Everyone seemed to be observing without fear. It really felt like a non-event and it ended in less than a minute.

The robber came back with the manager who opened up the register in my line and the cashier handed him a stack of bills. The robber then ran out the door.

My cashier then said, “FUCK”.

And the guy in front of me asked, “Was that real?”

“Yes. Didn’t you see the gun?”

The cashier was flushed, red, shaky. He was a young guy maybe 21 or 22. He handled himself well. He really made us feel calm because he was calm. He even said to me, "It'll be a moment sir" as he watched the robber hold up the other registers.

I kept asking him if he was okay. He said he was.

One of the girls who worked there came in from collecting the shopping carts and told us she saw the robber run out of the store fast. He didn’t have a car.

Suddenly, there was a buzz all around the store. People were gathered in little groups talking about what they saw. Prior to that, the store was completely silent. Everyone was at a pause. It was weird.

The cops showed up and had to talk to the cashiers that the robber held up.

I had to take my groceries to another check out stand.

Now there was the problem of purchasing groceries. Nobody had cash in the registers so if you wanted to buy stuff you had to use a credit card.

I got in my car thirty minutes after a supposed quick run to the grocery store. I called Donna and she said she was wondering what took so long and I told her the story as I drove home.

I was nervous when I got home. I wasn’t nervous in the store. My heart beat didn’t even raise at all. But when I got home I was paranoid. I was looking around as I got out of my car and took my groceries out. And Donna had the door open for me as I got to the door.

So there you have it. Rack it up as once in my life and hopefully no more than that.

Shaq and Kobe – making up is hard to do.

2006-01-17T06:20:00.000-08:00

It’s one of those days or two.

Hold on to your seats. It’s one of those days where my biorhythm is in whack or something. There’s got to be something. There has to be some explanation to how I’m feeling… So I checked on my biorhythm’s here: Free Biorhythm!

The results?

According to my Primary Rhythms…

Emotional: -90% Which means my stability and positive energy of my psyche and outlook on life, as well as my capacity to empathize with and build rapport with other people is EXTREMELY low!

Intellectual: +10% Which indicates my verbal, mathematical, symbolic, and creative abilities, as well as my capacity to apply reason and analysis to the world around me is not at a great level today.

Physical: +80% This shows that my strength, health, and raw physical vitality is quite high – which is probably why I’d rather be killing myself at the gym instead of killing myself at work.

And my Secondary Rhythms…

Mastery: +50% This is the composite of the Intellectual and Physical cycles. It encompasses my ability to succeed at tasks and to obtain what I desire. This cycle also tracks athletic ability and the focus required to learn physical skills. I’m definitely not motivated to workout, but I’d rather do that mindlessly than do my job like a zombie!

Passion: -2% This is the composite of the Physical and Emotional cycles. Passion encompasses my motivation to act, and the drive that allows me to continue a difficult pursuit. This cycle also tracks sexuality in its purest form. Uh… difficult pursuit? What about just surviving through the day? Lack of motivation is the theme for me. I have no motivation today. I don’t even have motivation to be lazy. I just want to do something different!

Wisdom: -45% This is the composite of the Emotional and Intellectual cycles. Wisdom encompasses my understanding of the world, my role in it, and the things that are truly important to my life. This cycle also tracks the presence of mind that you need to make crucial decisions.

Wisdom – understanding my role in the world. Funny… how appropriate as I questioned my station in life at about 3:00 AM last night as I watched ESPN News.

Maybe my biorhythms had a lot to do with how I felt about Kobe and Shaq last night. The whole Kobe/Shaq situation made me think about things emotionally if you can believe that.

I watched the recap of Kobe and Shaq about five times last night. I watched most of the game but fell asleep not knowing the score. I woke up in the living room and caught the Laker score on ESPN News and of course they kept showing the hug. That was more important to me than the score actually. The whole issue hasn’t run my life, it’s basically nothing really. A conflict only media driven. It’s pretty stupid in my honest opionion… but for a moment, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Sometimes you see people hug, shake hands, say hi and smile, but unless you really know what’s going on in their head, the hug, the hand shake, the smile could all be an act. Nothing real. Just for show. Fake.

I watched Kobe and Shaq shake hands and hug before the game. It hit me emotionally. I made it more than it could be. I got in their heads all of a sudden. Could either one be thinking, a year and a half removed from the ‘breakup’ - we may have made a mistake. There has to be some sort of deep seeded emotion in an individual despite their fame, fortune, bigger than life reality and media presence they need to portray.

Could Shaq be feeling sorry for Kobe and his Laker situation? Maybe. It’s always hard to leave a job with people you’ve worked with even if you didn’t like them all that much. It’s a big part of you despite how much you say it isn’t. Could Kobe look at Shaq and think back on the times they hugged and raised their arms to victory. Those times when their backs were against the walls yet they fought together, back to back, through the hardships and got the job done? I mean, those are times that eventually supercede the negative things that happen. You look back and see the moments of your life and see how wonderful things were and how an ego got in the way to pure brilliance!

Well, I watched them shake hands and hug. And I’m convinced it hit them right in the gut. Maybe not for long. Maybe for a brief moment. Maybe for a flash. It hit them. Everything they went through - all the good times and bad. And the regret. Nothing may be solved. The hatchet may not be buried. Love may not be regained… but for a moment I believe there was some sort of resolution, regret, love, sorrow, sadness and relief. And now you move on once again.

I wonder twenty years from now if they become friends. If they say - look at us, so young and so great and so big headed we didn’t accomplish what could have been. Will they eventually kick back thirty years from now and say to each other - we could have been the best for a long time. I wonder if forty years from now they admit and say – those were the best times of our lives - the championships, the fame, the fortune. Without each other, they wouldn’t have what they have today.

There are sports moments where the emotion overwhelms you and you shed a tear. When the US Olympic Hockey team won the gold in ‘80. When Gibby hit the home run in Game One in ‘88. When Fish hit the shot with .04 seconds left two years ago. And when the Indians won the Pennant in Major League. No, I didn’t shed a tear when Kobe and Shaq hugged… but it could have been one of those moments. I kinda wish it was.

I wonder if they will ever think about that. I hope they are just like us - human.

How I wish I can turn on the television and see this once again…

You like a quickies?

2006-01-16T15:17:00.000-08:00

I fought traffic to rush home from work last friday to bike around the bowl. It was dark. I did it anyway. I did it in 31:78 for an average pace of 13 MPH. Too slow. It was way too dark to do it again.

I'm working on a new BLOG. Blogger.com doesn't have much of a choice of templates and I want something new. So I'm looking into WordPress. Here's how my new one is looking. (The Hungry Writer). I'll keep you updated.

I bought some Tri-gear on Sunday. More about that later. Jake helped me make the final decision.

Battlestar Galactica is probably my most look forward to show of the week. You should watch it.

Season One is on DVD which includes the mini-series from 2003.

Season Two is also out - the first half that is. I want both! The second half of Season Two is now on Friday Nights on The SciFi Network.

It's one of the best shows on TV. Trust me!

There's nothing up my butt!

2006-01-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

I woke up today to Donna saying, “Just give her an enema and send her to the hospital.” She was asleep. Thank goodness she doesn’t sleep walk or do one of those hands on things while dreaming or else I may have woken up with something up my butt!

I had a pretty restful night. But I heard noises in the corner before I went to bed. It could have been outside of the house, but I swear it was inside. So I got my Kendo Shinai and poked around (which is by my bed for protection).

I found nothing. But during my sleep I kept thinking that there might be a mouse running around. I heard the noise on two different occasions before going over to check it out. And then in my sleep I began to think it could be a snake. So we have a snake or a mouse in the house. Or maybe nothing at all.

Other that, I slept pretty well. Although my restful sleep was filled with dreams of swim stroke technique and my bike pedal RPMs. I have to figure out how to know my pedal RPMs. And it might not rain today, which means I can figure it out sometime today.

You know, all week I’ve been thinking, I got to get some laps in at the pool. So I figure Saturday would be perfect. As Saturday approaches I start making excuses of how it's too cold, I’ll get sick, I was shivering last time in the pool despite the it being heated. But I set a time – 3:00PM. Well, the kids didn’t wake up from their nap on Saturday till around 3:00 so I was thinking its getting too late I’ll just do it tomorrow (Sunday/today). Finally I get out of the house to drop them off with my mom at my sisters house but it was a struggle and anything I could think of to keep me from going kept popping in my head. It’s too cold. It’s raining. I need a rest. The football game is on. I need goggles that don’t make me look like I should be snorkeling. I’m hungry. It was easy to come up with one. I stopped at Big 5 and got some cheap goggles and an energy bar. I ate while I drove to the gym and finally got into the pool.

But before that I walked in a really old man laying on the floor of the men’s swim locker room. He said he got dizzy and fell so I ran upstairs to get help. After about 20 minutes of commotion and him taking forever to dial his wife on his cell phone because his glasses were fogging up, he laid on the floor - with Speedos on - and told his wife what had happened. Several of us helped him get back on his feet and he sat down on the bench and got dressed. He said he was okay and one of the staff said he’d check up on him – yeah right. The 24 hr fitness guy disappeared and I never saw him come back down. After the locker room cleared he told me his wife was a retired nurse and would come pick him up. I asked him if his chest hurt, if he blacked out or had any numbness. He said no but he had a pace maker. He just felt dizzy and fell back. For the second or third time in my life I wished I was a doctor. I had no advice for him. So I gave him well wishes and went to the pool.

His wife showed up about fifteen minutes later and I saw her lay him back down on a bench and take his vitals. I kept thinking about life and the future and old age and love. That was true love. Unconditional love. I mean, you stay together and in the end here you are a wife taking care of your husband. I look at that couple and thought of my relationship with Donna right now is probably going to last longer than theirs. One of them isn’t going to make it much longer in life. It could have been him. Dying on the floor of the mens locker room. Just like that. Over. His wife could have been called for a different reason. Instead, she was there to help him sit on the bench, take his blood pressure, and get him home.

I finished the rest of my fifteen laps (750 meters – which is the most I’ve done), got dressed and went up for weight training. I wanted to say something to the couple. To tell them how I marveled at their relationship longevity. To wish them many more years together. The old man was nice to me. Hopefully his wife was the same. She didn’t look like a hard-ass. She looked very calm and caring. Like a nurse should be.

If I see him at the gym again, I’ll make sure to say hi.

So 750 meters. That’s 50 meters short of a half a mile. I used short fins but really didn’t focus too many laps on my kick. I focused on my arms. I tried to remember more technique that I read online – pressing my chest and face into the water, keeping my butt up, turning my head and body instead of lifting my head out of the water. For the most part, I think I have the stroke down. I need to really focus on it doing it slower and really gliding through the water. Last night was the first time I felt like I actually did glide through the water! It was a good swim. 15 laps in 30 minutes. But I take tons of breaks in between. Once to run to the bathroom and pee.

The kids are awake. It’s 6:45.

My weight training was pretty good as well. I increased the weight by ten pounds to some of my sets. So hopefully it shows I’m getting a little stronger. I also lost 9 pounds since November. Being sick helped. LOL.

Okay, time to start the day. Its cold out there.

This makes me sick!

2006-01-13T15:34:00.000-08:00

SF Cyclist Killed In Hit And Run

POSTED: 4:28 pm PST January 12, 2006

(From the bayinsider.com)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Police were looking for witnesses in a hit-and-run crash that took the life of a San Francisco bicyclist Thursday.

Sarah Tucker, 26, of San Francisco, was heading down Polk Street at about 2 a.m., according to Inspector Pat Tobin with the department's hit-and-run detail, when she came to a green light at the intersection of Geary Street.

A motorist driving a black Honda CR-V sport utility vehicle west on Geary apparently ran the red light, entering the intersection just before Tucker, who crashed into his passenger door.

"She sees him coming, she yells 'Hey,' that's what made some of the witnesses look up," Tobin said today. Tucker apparently did not have enough time to stop before slamming into the door of the Honda.

Tucker was catapulted off her bicycle, according to the Police Department, and landed in the street. She was taken to San Francisco General Hospital where she died at 9:46 a.m.

The driver of the Honda is described as a black male, according to police. He apparently did not have any passengers with him. Damage to the door will be obvious, Tobin said.

"All the witnesses said the passenger door had marked damage -- very noticeable," Tobin said. "All the witnesses got good looks at his face."

Any witnesses to the event itself or those who have spotted a black Honda CR-V with damage to the front passenger door are encouraged to call Tobin in the hit-and-run division at (415) 553-1641, or call the department's confidential tip line at (415) 575-4444.

Please don't rain!

2006-01-13T06:05:00.000-08:00

I WANT TO RIDE THIS WEEKEND!

I took a day off from my workout on Wednesday. My body was telling me to rest... So I did. I pushed myself a little too hard on Tuesday after going 18 days without a solid workout. So Wednesday I was really worn out.

I didn't have any motivation to go to the gym last night but I did. I skipped the swimming and went with an easy 30 minute run. I don't understand why my heart rate is so high at a pace I could have done all day. It was in Zone 5 for 27 of those 30 minutes. I wasn't labored, my breathing was easy, and after my run I was absolutely fine. My ave HR was 168 bpm at a 13.82 mile pace.

Should I be worried?

If it rains - I'll have to go swimming and run at the gym. Which is fine. But I want to bike! Three weeks to go till my first TRI!!! I NEED MILES ON THE BIKE!

If it does rain I"ll have to be forced to play alot of Call of Duty 2: The Big Red One!

But then rain is a DAMN GOOD EXCUSE to stay home all weekend and watch the playoff football games!

My predictions:
Skins over Hawks
Bears over Panthers
Pats over Denver
Indy over Pittsburgh

The Redskins will win the Super Bowl against -

- the Pats

Confused isn’t what Confucius says. It’s what Glenn is.

2006-01-11T06:03:00.000-08:00

What day is today?

Wednesday morning?

It’s only Wednesday. Or should I say, “Only Wednesday?!?”

Whew. I’m just a little confused today. I thought it was Thursday. I kinda wish it was Thursday. But there’s one reason why I like that it’s still Wednesday - It gives me a few more days this week to workout. Tonight and tomorrow night.

And there’s one reason why I hate that it’s still Wednesday - I still have three full days before hitting the weekend.

Jake has baseball practice on Saturday. And hopefully either Saturday or Sunday I can do some serious biking. I need to log like thirty miles on my bike this weekend. I also need to do my ‘long’ run sometime this weekend. ‘Long’ meaning time – like an hour straight. But it’ll be like ten to fifteen miles on the bike and maybe thirty minutes on my shoes. But you know what Confucius says…

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

So ten to fifteen miles and thirty minutes is just the beginning of my journey.

Oh… do you know who Confucius is? It's easy to be confused about Confucius (Originally ‘Kong Fuzi’ or more specifically, ‘K'ung Fu-Tzu’). He was a was a thinker, political figure, educator and a Chinese Philosopher and NOT a Chinese Comedian!

There’s a lot of play on words that turn out to be ‘Confucius Says’ jokes. They are funny, pithy, but hold a grain of truth. Like…

“Man who stand on street corner with hands in pockets, not feeling crazy, feeling nuts.”

Yeah, that was a joke. Funny, but true. Or…

"Always looking backwards for guidance give a person more than a pain in the neck."

Speaking of ‘pithy’… I like the word ‘pithy’. It’s probably a rarely used word. ‘Pithy’. I mean, when do you really use it in everyday convo? I think the word pithy is probably a word many people think is something other than what the definition really is. It means, “concise and full of meaning.” (from: www.dictionary.com) I bet people would interpret the word ‘pithy’ as the opposite of that definition. It’s the best word to use to describe Confucius sayings.

And back to Confucus … Here’s one saying I should have learned back in the early years of my life…

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

And yes… Confucius said that (supposedly). Of course translated to English. And oh so true.

So much for the brief history lesson on Confucius. As you can see, I had nothing really of value to write about today.

"If speech is not clear, then what is said is not what is meant. If what is said is not what is meant, then what ought to be done remains undone."

It remains that my work is yet to be done.

Confused yet?

If you want to read about what happened to my paint markers on Paintball Sunday: ”Down goes Frazier”. It ain’t good – the marker situation that is. I might have to retire from Paintball for a long while.

I didn’t want to sleep last night…

2006-01-10T05:55:00.000-08:00

I began a short script yesterday. I was going to finish it last night. But first I needed to work out. When I got home I talked to Dale about a script I am supposed to send out today (or soon). It got me motivated. I really need to get back on the writing track once again and pump things out like I use to. It used to be easy. Now it’s a struggle.

I was so tired though. I finally made it to the gym last night. Every weight felt heavier than normal. All my sets were a struggle. And it was one of those nights where I just didn’t have any motivation to go. Especially to get in the pool, get out, dry off, change, then run and do weights, etc. It was too much of a hassle. But I did.

I got out of the house at 8:15 and got in the pool around 8:30. I swam an all time high – 14 laps. Twelve of them with training fins and the last two without. That’s 700 Meters. Almost half a mile! It took 22 minutes and 40 seconds. Of course with several rest breaks. I got dressed as fast as I could then did an easy 20 minute run for 1.78 miles. I didn’t push myself too hard because it’s been more than two weeks since I’ve workout. Then I did weights for thirty minutes.

So yeah… I was tired.

But I didn’t want to sleep.

After my shower I managed to play FIFA 06 for about twenty minutes while drinking this god-awful ‘recovery’ drink by APEX. It was like drinking sugar water. I also had Dale on the phone as I tried to score some goals on FIFA. I was multi-tasking! The game is awesome by the way. But damn hard.

I slipped into bed around 11:45 and watched the Battlestar Galactica episode from Friday night. Wow. This show is edgy. They don’t hold back. They don’t do the pretty thing. They get down and dirty and they cross the line I’d say. The characters are heroic yet flawed. It’s definitely not for kids in my opinion. I mean, would you ever hear Lorne Greene (as Adama) of the original series tell Starbuck to put a bullet in Cain’s head? Uh… no! But Edward James Olmos (as Adama) did! Wow. Good stuff.

And like I said, I didn’t want to sleep. But I did.

And I had to get up three times to pee, I had to get Bella out of bed at 3:00 because she was coughing and needed water, and in between that I had restless night. I asked Donna to do it but she didn’t budge. So I got up and got her. Originally was going to just give her water but then she said, “Can I come sleep your bedroom?” At 3 AM I can’t argue. And I love it when she puts her head on my shoulder as I carry her to our room anyway. It was a rough night. So yeah, I didn’t want to sleep, and when I did, it wasn’t restful at all. I should have stayed awake.
What else? What else what else?

Oh yeah. Jessica called me on Sunday and said, “Guess what Papa. I got a PSP!” I asked her if her dad got it for her and she said no. She thought she was getting it for Christmas but didn’t. So she used her money she got from Christmas - $250. I was like, “Awesome! What games did you get?” She was like, “None. I didn’t have enough money!”

NONE? How do you have a PSP without games? How sad. Poor girl. I told her to email me a list of games she wanted. Of course she didn’t hesitate and a few minutes later I went to Target and got her Need for Speed – which was on the top of her list.

And of course I couldn’t resist and bought some games for Jake, Donna and myself.

For Jake:
He picked it out. I wanted him to get Spiderman or Fantastic Four or even The Incredibles. He, of course, chose another Star Wars game.

And for me…

I couldn’t resist.

And that’s about it I guess.

Kaden Rae

2006-01-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

My neice... Kaden Rae Larkin: Born 1/5/2006 at 1:27 PM.

Both Liza and Kaden are doing well! Kaden likes to keep Steve and Liza up from 1 AM to 4 AM. So if you want to visit, that’s the best time.

Colby loves his little sister, Hailey. Yes, you read that right. According to Colby, Kaden’s name is Hailey. And apparently, most of the family thinks her name is Hailey.

It’s quite apparent that Bella loves ‘It’ as she calls Kaden. “It’s” crying. I want to kiss “It”. Can I sleep with “It”?

Jacob’s been through four births already so he’s not that into ‘his baby cousin’. He’s just marveled at how ‘soft’ the water is when he washes his hands at the hospital. And he’s right. It is silky soft!

And Kenna… Well… who knows what she’s thinking.

Without further adieu, here’s Kaden Rae.

And if you want to see a few more pictures of Kaden Rae, click [HERE]

Finally... The weekend!!!

2006-01-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

Weekend Bliss…

Finally. The week is over.

My sister had a healthy baby girl.

I got on my bike and rode on the trainer.

And I’m feeling bettIer every day.

So this weekend I have a lot planned. I’m going to visit my new niece, I’m getting a much needed haircut, I’m going to bike around the Rose Bowl a couple of times (at least twice to do 10 miles), I’m going to swim, run, go to Jacob’s baseball tryouts, play paintball and just try to have fun!

I just got finished playing Greg Hasting’s Max’d Paintball game on the XBox. Time flew. I played for an hour and a half!

Now I’m going to sit back, relax, and watch some episodes of Battlestar Galactica on TiVo.

Back on the saddle… Literally.

2006-01-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

Yes! Finally! Its over! There’s still a lingering cough but for the most part I’m ready to get back on the Tri-training and put my sickness behind me. With a month and 7 days to go before my first sprint triathlon, I need to get on the bike, get my swimming technique in check, and run some serious miles. So I got on the saddle – my bike saddle that is. No, I didn’t bike anywhere except for my garage. Maybe six or seven miles going twenty minutes on the bike trainer, I maintained a target heart rate within zones 4 and 5. It was quite a sweat, my legs were wobbling after I got off the bike, but during the 20 minutes I really wasn’t gasping for air or fatigued. I was going to go for a run – hill training – before I headed into the shower, but wanted to rest a little before heading to the hospital.

It feels good to get my heart rate going, to sweat, and to do something other than lay in bed and watch TV.

I started to feel like there’s no way that I’ll be ready for the July 12th Triathlon. Especially because I haven’t even spun the wheels of my bike. But now, the goal of accomplishing this Tri is as real as the USC loss to Texas. They did lose didn’t they? I have no doubt I can finish this Tri. The question is, will it be an absolute struggle? Torture? Hell on earth? In a way I’m glad it is a backwards Triathlon. Run 5k first. Then the 10 mile bike. And an easy 100 yard swim. Even if I have to hold on to the wall, at least its in a heated pool! I’ll need a tri-suit so I don’t have to worry about changing in the transition areas. I can go straight from my run, onto the bike, then into the pool. If this was a swim in the ocean I’d have second thoughts about ‘triing’ this too early. Get it? TriIng? (It’s funnier when you say it in your head as you type – trust me.)

I’m supposed to go riding on Saturday afternoon. Its finally the time to fine tune my bike fit. I think the seat needs to be moved forward a skosh and I may need tighter shoes and a bigger helmet. Other than that I’m good to go.

Well, I’m off to see the birth of my niece or nephew in a few minutes.
New long term goal: To complete a Triathlon with Jacob someday. And then with Bella.

Someone's birthday is today...

2006-01-05T07:39:00.000-08:00

But I don’t know who.

My sister Liza is scheduled for a c-section today which means I’ll be the uncle of a niece or nephew once again. She does not know the sex. All we know is that he or she will be born to us today, January 5, 2006.

Just think… Six years ago there were no kids in my immediately family. My parents weren’t grandparents. Today there will be FIVE. FIVE KIDS?!?

It’s a good excuse not to go to work. But I did get my month end done by yesterday 2PM. There was a revision that needed to be done yesterday but I had left work already. I left at 2. I didn’t see the request till 6:30 this morning. So I did it with both kids hanging on me, sneezing, pooping and crying. It took about forty minutes but it was done and sent. Whew.

Anyway… I’ll be off to the hospital around 10. I hope everything will be fine. I hope the baby is well. I hope my sister will do great.

Everyone send your thoughts her way!

Go Pac-10!

2006-01-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

No - I'm not a big USC fan (GO UCLA!). But I am rooting for the Pac-10 to kick ass today. It's all about the conference baby.

My prediction...

USC 42

Texas 28

BET THE OVER!

Horrible News

2006-01-04T05:44:00.000-08:00

How in the world do they report 12 miners found and alive? And then they report three hours later that they are dead?

This is miscommunication at its absolute worst.

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - In a stunning and heartbreaking reversal, family members were told early Wednesday that 12 of 13 trapped coal miners were dead — three hours after they began celebrating news that they were alive.

I’m saddened at the news. I’m also angered at the miscommunication.

I watched a woman interviewed on the news at the mining site after the report that 12 miners were found alive state, “This proves that God as our creator provides miracles.”

Chaos broke out in the church and a fight started. About a dozen state troopers and a SWAT team were positioned along the road near the church because police were concerned about violence. Witnesses said one man had to be wrestled to the ground when he lunged for mining officials.

These are the same people of faith that were hugging and kissing and rejoicing and praising God for a miracle three hours before.

It’s a complete one hundred eighty degrees from their thanks to God for a miracle. You thank someone for giving you a gift. Do you blame the same person for taking it away?

I don’t blame them for their reaction.

I’m shocked.

I’m upset.

I heard myself say after the good news, “Thank God.”

Now I’m speechless.

Blah blah blah...

2006-01-03T22:24:00.000-08:00

One of those nights where I have nothing to say. So here's a bunch of ramblings...

XBOX 360 - Do I really want one?

A blank stare swept across his face. And I’m not talking about George W.

My neck hurts. Bad.

I bought a bike trainer today. It keeps my bike company in the garage.

Is USC really going to win? I thought UCLA would give them a run for their money.

I hated Kobe Bryant. Then I started to like him. Now he’s just a stupid idiot.

I’m thinking about getting a tattoo. Donna suggested we get ducks. Uh. No. Snake maybe. But not a duck.

I didn’t eat very good today. And now I’m craving a Tommy Burger.

They found 12 of 13 miners alive!!!!!!!

I’m going to play paintball on Sunday. That is if I’m not sick.

You can own the 2006 Rose Parade on DVD. Why would you do that?

Bella is coughing.

Good night.

Crashing and burning...

2006-01-02T20:04:00.000-08:00

Just the thought of going back to work tomorrow is making me sick. Literally. It’s all psychological. But I’m feeling woozy. I'm depressed. I'm feeling stressed. I really feel sick. Really sick! I can’t stand it. I spent a whole week and then some with the kids which was way better than going to work.

In the past three days they did some water color painting. We made gross drinks with the Dr. Dreadful Demented Drink Lab. Bella drank anything we made. Jake was a little picky. I thought they were all gross but I had to try all the experiments. We watched A Shark’s Tale, Shrek 2, Toy Story 2, Sandlot and the Rose Parade. We played video games and ate tons of cereal. It was awesome. Most of the week I was sick. Thankfully the last three days I had enough energy to keep up so-to-speak.

Today I woke up with a really bad neck ache so I went to the Westfield Mall (known to us as Eagle Rock Plaza) to get a massage from the Chinese Masseuse soliciting their services in front of Target. It was awesome. But it didn’t solve the problem. I was good to go for about three hours before my neck started to ache again. I doubt I’ll get a good night’s sleep as I dread my alarm clock going off in the morning. It’s horrible.

I guess this whole vacation is coming to an end. With no real highs, except for Christmas, and the really big low and my crash and burn come tomorrow morning as I make my way in the rain, on the 101 freeway, to my dreaded job. Oh well.

C'est La Vie -

One more day off!

2006-01-02T11:35:00.000-08:00

I called my boss last night and asked if we had to be in today. Apparently nobody is. Which means - I’m not! So one more day off to rest and get well. Actually, yesterday I was feeling better. I still have a cough, a little fatigued, but for some reason I was feeling like I was on the road to recovery.

Last night I tried to watch Amelie. I got through about 45 minutes and couldn’t watch anymore. Everyone I’ve talked to has loved it. I was a little on the ‘when is something going to happen’ side. It just never really clicked. Yes, its cute and all, but it wasn’t such a big deal. People have said this is my kind of movie, something I’d like. I’ll have to give it another shot. It could be my mood last night. It was around 9PM, I watched for 45 minutes then tried to watch some other shows I had stored up on TiVo. From ‘Everyone Loves Raymond’ to old episodes of ‘Wings’ and last week’s episode of ‘Will and Grace’. Nothing seemed to entertain me so I just fell asleep with the TV on.

Maybe tonight Donna and I will watch Amelie.

The kids and I woke up this morning to a huge storm in So Cal. It hasn’t rained on the Rose Parade in like 50 years! Well… today it did. We watched the bands, the Rose Queen, the floats and spectators get soaked in the rain. Donna had to drive quite a distance to get on the freeway in order to get home from work. All the roads were closed but she eventually fought the rain drenched freeway and traffic and got home around 9:00.

Happy New Year everyone!

Glenn's Year End Video Game Review - Straight from the sick bed!

2005-12-31T19:07:00.000-08:00

I haven't really done a Video Game review in quite a long time. Since maybe April or May of this year I reviewed a baseball game and some others here and there. Here's a full blown review as I sit in bed watching Toy Story 2.

Star Wars Battlefront (XBox)
My Rating: 10/10

So what do you do on vacation when you’re sick? You watch movies and play video games ALL DAY LONG with your son. Bella has like three doll houses and a tricycle to keep her occupied which gives Jake and I some uninterrupted gaming during the day. And from Saturday thru Thursday what did we play? Star Wars Battlefront. It’s fairly a new game for us. We bought it a few weeks ago but didn’t get much time in on it. I don’t know why. He was more into some other games. But once both of us started playing we were hooked. Seriously hooked. And we ended up completing the game as we improvised our way from planet to planet. Finally I got serious one afternoon while he was taking a nap and got through single play all the way through. It was pretty easy. But easy didn’t mean fun. It was hella fun! It has to be ranked as one of my favorite video games I’ve ever played.

We were getting a little tired of the same old thing. In one week’s time Jake and I pretty much completed the game and most of everything it has to offer. There wasn’t much of a challenge anymore. So I decided to splurge and buy some new games on Friday…

Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball MAX'd
My rating: 9/10 (XBox)

This game should have strong appeal for Paintballers. For players who haven’t actually played the game with real Paint Markers and paint, they might get confused by all the equipment, game play and action. Especially if they are used to first person shooters.

Jake and I have been hooked. We got it on Friday and spent the afternoon playing pro teams and shooting cool markers. When I get a chance to play alone, I play in “Career Mode” and play tournaments all across the world and build up my gear bag with better markers, barrels, gloves and other equipment. It’s fast paced – a game can literally last 10 seconds – and it’s pretty accurate as far as real on the field play and video game play is concerned. I’m totally hooked on this game!

Unfortunately the graphics are mediocre and the trigger on the controller isn’t like the real thing, but you get what you get. And its pretty awesome.

I didn’t think Jake would be able to play as it is a little confusing. But he’s been wanting to play real paintball but has to wait like 10 years and he’s just as hooked at this game as I am. It didn’t take him long to figure out how to hide, snap shoot, nail the opponent and capture the flag! He even shoots as fast or even faster as his old man! A chip off the old block!

Star Wars: Battlefront II (XBox)
My Rating: 8/10

Another game we bought on Friday was Star Wars: Battlefront II. I can’t give this a fair review since I haven’t spent much time on it yet. It does seem a little bit more scenario oriented as its predecessor but the graphics are awesome and the controls are easy to use. It might be a harder game to play for Jake even after he’s mastered Star Wars: Battlefront. This one just might be a little bit too hard. But he surprises me so we’ll see.

One feature he loves is you can actually play a Jedi with a lightsaber. Its not as awesome as you might thing. Its just one of the Jedi running around wielding a lightsaber and destroying things. Personally, I like sharp shooting or blasting things with a sniper rifle or cannon.

Lego Star Wars (GBA)
My Rating: 9/10

Okay, I splurged on video game purchases on Friday. I bought three. I would have bought more. I would have. But I didn’t.

Again, I can’t give this a fair review since I haven’t spent much time on it yet. And probably won’t. Jake got a Game Boy Advance (GBA) from his grandmother (Donna’s mom) and got a mediocre driving game with it (Crazy Taxi). Graphics are bad and game play is below average. So I decided to get him another game. I let him pick and he picked this.

I played a few minutes and immediately was turned on by the graphics! I never liked hand held games due to poor graphics and eye strain, but this one made me want to get a PSP. The advance on these game models is unbelievable. I just might want a PSP for my birthday in fact. Anyway, this game looks and feels pretty close to the XBox version (which Jake loves) and is something that will keep his attention in the car on those days when he has nothing better to do.

One thing good about buying at Electronics Boutique is that you can buy pre-played or used games. And with your membership card you get additional savings. Unfortunately the Greg Hastings Paintball game was new so they didn’t have a used one. But the other two we got a pretty decent price.

My video game want list is here! Not that I’m a huge gamer, but these are what I’d like to play.

Call of Duty 2: The Big Red One

Star Wars: Republic Commando

Forza Motorsports

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (XBox)

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

FIFA 06

Halo 2 (I still haven’t gotten this!)

“You’re killing me Smalls!”

2005-12-31T18:05:00.000-08:00

Sandlot (1993)
My Rating 10/10

“You’re killing me Smalls!”- Tom Guiry plays Scotty Smalls. A kid who knows NOTHING… and I mean NOTHING about baseball. But this summer, he gets into the biggest pickle he’s ever been.

I think I may have said that this may be the best baseball movie ever made. It sure captured some of my childhood which makes me like it even that much more. Yes, there’s Major League and Bull Durham and Field of Dreams… But this has it all. Action, suspense, cute lifeguards and baseball at its purest. The kind you don’t play anymore. The kind played in… a Sandlot.

Having nothing better to do this morning and still feeling the effects of a long night with Bella, the kids ate cereal and we cuddled up in bed to watch Sandlot. This is around 7:00 AM. Yes, this is when my day starts – actually it starts around 5:30 – 6:00 when they wake up. Jake, for some reason, claims he’s ‘scared of this movie’. Apparently he’s seen parts of it but has never seen the whole movie. I knew once it started and he saw the kids throwing and hitting the ball around it would catch his attention.

You see, he’s afraid of the whole “Beast” thing. Especially when the kids are in the tree house telling the story. Bella… didn’t phase her one bit. After that, it was fine. And both of them, even Bella, enjoyed the show.

This is a great family movie. Tried and tested by yours truly. For those who don’t know anything about baseball, you don’t need to. Just enjoy the show.

Hot showers at 1:00 AM

2005-12-31T15:42:00.000-08:00

So here’s how my movie night ended up the night before New Years Eve…

I slipped in a movie called “Cavite”. An independent film that is getting some serious attention lately. The filmmakers just got signed and we met with the person who actually signed them. And she liked us as well. But to my dismay, my old DVD player didn’t read the disc so I ended up watching something on TiVo.

But before I get into my review, here’s what happened in the middle of the night.

Donna worked last night so it was just me and the kids. They went to bed around 7:30 and I did the usual things around the house. Dishes, picked up a little in the living room, played XBOX and then crawled into bed to watch a movie.

I was extremely tired after the movie and hoped for a good night’s sleep. But I woke up to the sound of Bella’s cough. I went in to check on her and she started to gag and cry and was really congested. So I carried her to the bathroom, closed the door and turned on the hot water in the shower. The steam seemed to help after about five minutes and I decided to let her sleep in bed with me. She fell asleep on my chest and after I while I laid her on her back.

So much for my good sleep. Bella, the princess that she is, decided the Queen sized bed was all hers and found many positions on the bed to sleep in. We ended up in a “T” position in the morning with her feet on my chest.

Poor Bella. My cough is bad. But her cough seems to be worse. I hate to start the New Year with both of us sick!

Anyway, here’s my movie review for the day…

In Good Company (2004)
My Rating: 8/10

I’ve been giving a lot of 8/10 ratings lately. I’m usually more ‘hard to please’ when it comes to movies. But I didn’t find anything real bad with this movie. Topher Grace was good in his first movie role since quitting “That 70s Show” and Dennis Quaid was… well, Dennis Quaid. Scarlett Johansson, who looked great in this film and did a good job, played a major role in Topher Grace’s character arch. But I’m not so sure it was such a great role. It was almost second nature to the whole film. Like she didn’t even need to exist really. I don’t know how to describe it. Her character was just there to fuel the plot and wasn’t really a redeeming character at all. But that’s just a minor concern of mine. Again, I can’t really describe it so forget it.

Overall, this film was pretty solid. It came and went in the theaters and I think people missed a pretty decent film! It’s not much of a romantic comedy or drama, or even a real comedy. Just a slice of life with some laughs. It’s just a basic ‘buddy-buddy’ relationship movie with an ending I actually liked.

Rent it some time when you want a light movie to watch.

So what do you do when you are all alone in bed with your wife?

2005-12-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

Stuck in my sick bed, but this time with Donna, I was able to watch another movie.

The Notebook (2004)
My Rating: 8/10

Donna read this book when it first came out. And it was hard for me to sleep on those last few chapters where she cried and cried and cried and I tossed and turned and sighed myself to sleep. Finally, the movie came out and a year later (last night) we watched it.

I don’t know if 8/10 is such an honest rating. Could be lower to be honest. But I’m swayed by emotion of both my wife’s feelings and of being sick. LOL

Anyway, the movie was enjoyable. I especially loved the love story and of course the acting of Ryan Gosling and Rachel Adams. I’d like to see both of them in more roles. I’ve never seen so much kissing in a movie. Ever. And kudos to both James Garner and Gena Rowlands for adding more character to the characters.

The whole ‘twist’ if you can call it a twist I could have done without. Very creative, yes. And it added to the whole love story. But for me, eh. I just hate knowing ‘the end’. And that was basically what the whole movie led to – if that makes any sense. (remember I’m sick).

This was a chick flick to say the least. But if you’re a guy, in touch with your chick side, then sit back and try to enjoy the romance, the kissing, the twist and all that emotional stuff.

I did.

And after the movie… We didn’t just fall asleep. If you catch my drift.

Guess what’s on now?

2005-12-29T13:09:00.000-08:00

Titanic.

On HBO. Damn HBO is forcing this movie down my throat and taking advantage of me while I’m sick. Ahh… NFL Live on ESPN. Now that’s more like it.

But what else did I watch on my sick vacation? A Tom Hanks slash Steven Spielberg movie! Sounds like a great combination right? Well… read on.

The Terminal (2004)
My rating: 6/10

Yes, 6/10. The combo of Hanks and Spielberg seems like a no lose situation. I mean, c’mon! But even this duo couldn’t save a premise that should have been shelved before coming out of someone’s mouth. That is unless it was pitched as a slapstick comedy like “Police Squad” or “Police Academy”. What can you do with a story about a foreigner traveling to the US who is forced to stay in the International Terminal for nine weeks? You’ll have to suspend disbelief in a big way to really accept the fact that some head of Homeland Security at JFK airport wants to one: keep Tom Hanks in the Terminal and two: not allow this harmless person to enter the United States. Yes, it’s a slam on our current Administration and their policies on Homeland Security but is that enough to sustain this storyline? Uh, nope. It was presented as too real a situation with serious actors and a serious director (whatever that is) when this movie should have been cast for someone like Jim Carrey or Will Ferrell. And these two comedic geniuses are too good for this movie. It’s almost like Hanks and Spielberg were taking a “Police Academy” script and replacing the cast with uh, good actors. Seriously. This movie would have been perfect for the cast of “Police Academy”!

It’s perfect I say!
Steve Guttenberg as Tom Hanks’ character.
Kim Cattrall as Catherine Zeta-Jones’s character.
Bubba Smith as Chi McBride’s character.
George Gaynes as Stanley Tucci character.

Etc., etc, etc…

Overall, the movie was mediocre entertainment for even a sick soul like myself. If you were able to accept all the impossibilities – and there were more than a handful – maybe… just maybe it will entertain you.. And here’s one for ya… Speilberg decided to do away with a traditional “Hollywood Ending” in favor for something more, can I say, meaningful and heartfelt. Like that saved the movie. Yeah right. Give me the girl at the end. At least there would be some salvage to this mess.

I gave it a 6/10. I was sick while watching if that says anything good or bad.

Not even a rental. Catch it on TV when there’s absolutely nothing else on to watch.

My vacation sucks!

2005-12-28T20:49:00.000-08:00

This vacation sucks. Yes, I’m on vacation. And it sucks. It sucks-sucks-sucks! I had so many things planned. I was going to hang out with Jessica. Take her to the gym and get some serious swimming in. I was going to work out real hard for five days straight. I was going to go to Disneyland. I was going to go biking on my new bike. I was going to go to several movies AT THE MOVIE THEATER!!!

Instead I’m sick in bed. Sick-sick-sick. It sucks-sucks-sucks! I hate it.

But I’ve watched a few movies. And here are a few.

Elf (2003)
My Rating: 8/10

Was it 2003 when this movie came out? Why did I wait so long to see it. I like Will Ferrell and I love Christmas movies. And I have to say, I loved this movie. This was more than I expected. Will Ferrell sure didn’t disappoint. Funny as ever and very entertaining. Watch this movie before the end of the Holiday season. It’s one of those feel good ‘do you believe in the Christmas Spirit’ kinda movies!

American Splendor (2003)
My Rating: 8/10

I have to say, after watching American Splendor I thought it could possibly be one of my favorite top ten movies – you know, depending on my mood. It’s one of those simple movies about a writer. A true story. A bio-pic slash narrative, so-to-speak. I guess you can say I totally identify with this character – Harvey Pekar. Well not totally but somewhat identify - from a writers point of view and finding that unique voice. I also identify with him because I love comic books. I’ve tried writing a strip myself. Often times I look at my comic strip and think, its good, its funny, its honest – but is it truthful? Sometimes its hard to tell the truth. And when you discover what lies behind the truth your writing stops. And when you don’t stop writing, the words are golden..It’s easier to sugar coat things. And a lot of writers can’t just put the truth on paper. But that’s not what this story is all about. It’s about the life, trials and tests, of a guy in a dead end job going nowhere, who discovers his voice in writing a comic book. And to top it all off, he deals with cancer which is documented in a graphic novel called, “Our Cancer Year”. The movie is also documented in a graphic novel called, “Our Movie Year”.

The characters were very real. The situations real. And the story real. Primarily because it was based on real people, real situations and a real life. This is a movie I wished I watched two years ago. But I’m glad I didn’t let it pass me by another year longer.

Am I a changed man or a changed writer after watching this? I could be. Maybe it’ll help me discover the truth about myself someday and I’ll put it down on paper.

Watch it.

Titanic (1997)
My Rating: 7/10

I can’t believe I did it. I watched Titanic… AGAIN! Ugh. And it was 11:00 PM when it started. Bad idea. Real bad. I’m sick, I have a list of other movies to watch, I desperately need my rest and suddenly I get hooked on a three hour movie just a 60 ticks before midnight. Damn.

Donna got into bed around 11:45 and both of us were into it till the very end. I think I dozed for maybe five or six minutes, but then was thoroughly engaged in the inevitable tragedy of the Titanic. Human tragedies always are a good attention getter aren’t they? The result of all this? I gave it a 7/10 – not sure if that’s the rating I gave it before – and I dragged myself out of bed at 9:00 AM.

This vacation would be a horrible waste. But I’ve managed to squeeze in some movies as I lay in my sick bed.

I'm sick of being sick!

2005-12-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

And that's what I am. I've been fighting a cough and fatigue for four days. This is my fifth and there's no sign of it changing!

UGH!

So we had Panda Inn last night. I thought the hot and sour soup would do me good. All it did was fill me up.

Bella went straight for the fortune cookie after dinner. She asked me to break it open. I asked her why. She replied with, “Cause there’s a letter in there.” So I read her fortune in the way of a letter. “Dear Bella, Your hard work is about to pay off. Sincerely, Panda Inn”

Jake’s fortune read, “The strengths in your character will bring you serenity.”

He asked me what serenity meant. Without rushing to www.dictionary.com I replied, “It means ‘peace’.”

And he asked, “Why didn’t they just put that then?”

Hmmm… good question, Jake!

So what am I gonna do on my week off?

WELL... I was going to work my ass off every single day but now... I can't!

Here's a list of movies that I need to watch.

Cavite
Elf
Moonlight Mile (I have to try and finish this horrible movie)
Chronicles of Narnia
Fun with Dick and Jane
The Notebook

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T09:03:00.000-08:00

MY CHRISTMAS GREETINGS
One of my favorite childhood movies…
Rankin/Bass’
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.

It's very outdated and really doesn’t hold the attention of my kids as it's too slow and not very animated – no pun intended.
Needless to say, its still a great seasonal movie to watch and get nostalgic about.
Have a great HOLIDAY
and
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Not such a peaceful nite...

2005-12-24T09:37:00.000-08:00

Not a creature was stirring, except for Jake who threw up all over himself at 12:45 in the morning.

We don't know why, it could have been the dog he was playing with since he's allergic, or the one cashew he ate before he went to bed. He went to bed with swollen lips.

When he woke up throwing up he had swollen eyes and welts or hives all over his body. He couldn't stop scratching. He was miserable. We put him in the bath tub, cleaned him up and it didn't help. He had welts all over his body. Just like I get when I play with a dog.

But could it be the cashew nut?

We called the doctor, she prescribed some steroid that would get rid of the welts right away. THe problem was, the only 24 hr pharmacy open was 20 minutes away. So I went.

I got there at 1:40 AM. And the pharmacist said she couldn't fill any prescriptions till 2:00 AM because her computer was down. I called home and Donna said he was miserable. Still! UGH! I was so worried.

You won't believe how crowded a SavonDrugs store is at 2:00 AM. But it was. Why aren't these parents putting their kids in bed?

I ended up walking around the store and finding two Star Wars characters Jake would like. THen I read a book for 10 minutes - "The Land That Time Forgot" which was on my Treo650. A good read for those 10 minutes actually.

Finally, 2:12 AM and I'm heading home.

At 2:35 AM I walk into a silent night. Not a creature was stirring. Not even Gordon.

Anyway, I slipped into the small space in bed left for me by Donna and Jake and woke up to the normal non itchy awakenings of... PAPA I WANT TO GO TO THE LIVINGROOM.

So all is well. At least for now.

Damn dogs. Or cashews.

Ain't Karma a bitch?!?

2005-12-22T06:24:00.000-08:00

I hate RiteAid.

Yes, I do. I’ve always hated that hell hole. It’s a convenience to have one by your home, but it’s the worst run convenience/pharmacy whatever you call it store ever. I have never once gone in there and felt like things run smooth. I don’t know what their hiring practices are but man those people are incompetent.

I dread going in when there are other people there because I know the line at the cashier will be a madhouse.

Am I always right about this? Yes I am.

And here’s where Karma plays a role in my evening.

I walked into RiteAid around 8:00 last night. It was PACKED. This is the most packed I’ve ever seen it. At least fifty people buying who knows what. I was there to buy a lock for my gym locker.

The lines at the cashier were horrible. And here’s where the problem usually is. The management of lines.

Now, it would seem smart for a store manager to see four or five lines forming for only three cashiers. Nobody knows where to stand. They just form lines. People thinking one register is open then it closes and then they have to go to the end of another long line. Which is totally unfair. But believe me. Irritated people aren’t going to say, ‘here, you guys are next in line so ten of you should go in front of me.’ That’s not going to happen.

So five lines become three and there are tons of angry people. And then a register opens and people in the back of the line RUN LIKE HELL to get to that one leaving the ones who deserve to be served next, waiting in their original line.

If you were the manager of this store I would expect this at the very least. –TO MANAGE THE DAMN STORE AND EXERT SOME FORM OF MANGERIAL SKILLS LIKE THIKING ABOUT FORMING ONE LINE! The next cashier ready will take the next person up. It’ll run smooth and there won’t be ANY confusion even if you’re an idiot.

At VONS, when there’s long lines, a cashier goes to the NEXT person up in a line and tells that person that they can ring them up in a new open register. Everyone ‘gets it’ everyone accepts it and everything is nice and orderly.

RITEAID MANAGERS ARE STUPID IDIOTS WHO DON’T DESERVE THEIR MEASLY PAY. And if you’re one of them, and you let this happen, then yes… you don’t deserve shit. If you’re one of them and are proactive and are aware of the happenings in your store, then you stand above all others and deserve more than minimum wage.

One person complained and said exactly what I was thinking at the moment. Can’t you organize this a little better? Can’t you open up another register?

And here’s how ‘aware’ these idots are. The manager says, “we don’t have enough staff to open another register”.

AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENS SECONDS LATER!? They opened another register. Like all of a sudden a miracle happened and they had enough staff. WHAT THE HELL?

Okay, so here I am, waiting in this long ass line. A register closes and people grumble and complain and rush to line up behind me. Well, the woman five people in front of me was returning and exchanging and using cash and credit and writing a check all at the same time. It was one of those, WHAT ARE YOU DOING CAN’T YOU SEE THERE’S NOW 80 PEOPLE HERE AND YOU HAVE TO DO THAT CRAP kinda situations? She was an idiot. The cashier was an idiot. I was an idiot for coming in there. And the cashier couldn’t figure it out. It’s tough when you are an idiot and you get hired to count and multi-task and think isn’t it?

Well, they open ANOTHER register (from five to three to four and now five registers in a manner of five minutes) and people in front of me sprint to that one thinking there’s no end to this woman’s transaction. So now I’m like NEXT IN LINE!

Well, that cashier who opened the new line has no idea what he’s doing and the people who think they were going to get out faster by rushing over there end up waiting and waiting and waiting. A manager is called, keys are inserted and twisted, tape is force fed out of the register and the drawer is open, closed, open and slammed shut. It’s very technical and we as shoppers wouldn’t understand. Well, the simple fact is, POOR MANAGEMENT!

Finally the woman in front of me leaves and I know there are others that deserve to go before me. But screw that. I’m thinking, “I scored!!!” I didn’t wait in line that long at all. I probably deserved to be cashed out the least out of anyone in the store. Seriously. I scored. And I didn’t care. I was like, this is RiteAide’s problem and I’m getting the hell out of here.

It takes 20 seconds to pay for my lock and I escape the store a million times faster than I predicted. What could have been thirty minutes ended up to be five or six.

I go and workout.

And here’s where Karma takes its course.

I go to Vons to purchase a protein drink after my workout. There’s only a handful of people there since its 10PM. I get in a line behind two people. And the person paying uses a gift card and it doesn’t go through. The cashier calls over the manager, the manager does what the cashier did and gets the same result. The woman in front of me is huffing and puffing and looking around at the other two lines. Finally the manager decides to make a phone call to see what’s wrong.

It takes forever and the woman in front of me has had it. She takes her stuff and gets in the back of another line. I decide to wait. It was a mistake. Instead of cashing the woman out and going to me, they try to figure this thing out by calling two different phone numbers and finding out there’s money in the account but its not working. The good thing about the situation is what the cashier says to me. “I’m sorry sir, we’ll be right with you.” I nod thinking, at least there’s some MANAGING going on here and the cashier was nice enough to acknowledge the situation instead of lying about staffing problems and shit like the RiteAid manager did. Finally they ask the woman if she could use cash and they’ll get it straightened out on the side. She cashes out and I get out of there after ten minutes of standing in line.

I could have walked in and out. But due to my selfish line greed at RiteAide, I was forced to stay in line longer than expected.

Karma. Ain’t it a bitch? And it's probably going to bite me in the ass for writing this. LOL

So here’s an update on my workout for those who care.

I was so lazy last night. I almost just decided to go to bed early but motivated myself to get to the gym.

Running
An easy 1.25 mile run in 10.42.

Weights
ABS Crunches 2 sets of 60
BACK Assisted Pullups 2 sets of 15 at 100 lbs
TRICEPS Assisted Dips 2 sets of 15 at 100 lbs
TRICEPS Pulley pushdown 2 sets of 15 at 30 lbs
BICEPS Straight Bar Standing 2 sets of 15 at 30 lbs
LEGS Leg Extensions 2 sets of 15 at 90 lbs
LEGS Hamstring curl 2 sets of 15 at 70 lbs

Core
CHEST Soccer Ball Pushups 2 sets of 15
ABS Hanging knee-raise 3 sets of 15
BACK Two arm Pullovers 3 sets of 15

I did a ton of stuff. It felt like the weights were heavier than the last time I did this workout. But I got through it.

No pain no gain as they say.

Christmas Pics 2005

2005-12-22T05:42:00.000-08:00

Here are a few…

On Dec 6, 2005, Jacob had his Christmas Program. He had a speaking part for the first time. He was sick most of the week they handed out the lines. When he got home on Friday he read the lines over and over. The following Monday they had practice and his teacher said he was the first to memorize them. I asked him a couple of times if he was nervous as the day approached. He acted as if there was no reason to be. All he wanted to do was get his hands on the mic and say his lines.

And he did it as clear and as perfect as you can possibly do it! What a ham!

That’s auntie Lana and Bella. The stage where Jacob’s Christmas Program happened is in the background.

Jake and his teacher.

Every year for the past eighteen years my sister has put together a Christmas party with all the fixins’! There was a time when at least thirty people were in the house. As the years went by people moved away, people got married, and people had kids! We always do an exchange gift (Secret Santa) and what started as a twenty dollar max eighteen years ago has now gotten to the one hundred dollar (plus or minus some bucks) range. This year I got a Timex Heart Rate Monitor watch from Chip! There’s only five people from the original party eighteen years ago. Chip (on his knees on the left), me (the guy holding Jake), Dale (the dude standing right behind me), Dasie (Dale’s wife behind me and next to Dale), and my sister (the pregnant one on the right). This is the one and only party I look forward to the ENTIRE year! She makes an awesome Turkey and pulls out all the stops! I can’t wait till next year!

Jake and Bella are very happy that Jessica is home for Christmas.

Squeezed in between my sister’s party and Christmas day is Lori’s annual Christmas party. Usually pasta shells and spinach balls are served. Lori is the tall one in green. Unfortunately, Donna had to eat and run because she had to go to work that night.

There’s more to come. We still have three days till Christmas! Whoo Hoo!!!

"Courage means being afraid to do something, but still doing it." Knute Rockne

2005-12-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

So there I was, dying to get on my bike and go for a ride. It’s around 10:00 PM and I was pacing around the house trying to figure out if I should start some pushups and crunches or go out to the garage and take the bike out for a spin.

I decided to go to the garage. I snapped on to the clipless pedals and held on to the wall testing the tightness of the cleats to the pedals and their release. My right foot naturally felt like the one that should be releasing so I snapped it on and off, struggling at first to really twist my ankle out as I hold on to the wall. On and off – on and off. I did it so many times my ankle started to get sore.

After about 15 to 20 minutes I decided to get off the bike and continue the on and off process some more another time. There was no way I was going out onto the street without feeling slightly comfortable with getting my foot out of the pedal before tipping over and falling on the ground.

This will be the biggest challenge for my bike segment of Tri Training. The whole pedal thing.

I’ve built up the courage to accept I’ll be in the ocean, fighting to stay afloat for half a mile. But right now I’m not so sure I have enough courage to get on this bike and pedal around with my feet stuck to it.

Yeah – I’m a afraid. But I’m still going to do it.

There’s several things I want my son and daughter to learn from all this. There are the obvious ones like determination, commitment, hard work and focus. But one thing I really want them to learn – especially Jake since Bella is pretty fearless – is courage.

"Courage means being afraid to do something, but still doing it." Knute Rockne

Here’s my new bike.

And that, as they say, is that.

I'm sore...

2005-12-20T13:14:00.000-08:00

I’m so sore.

I’m not sure why. It could be one or a combination of two things.

It’s my adductors, or inner-thighs/groin area, that are in pain. And I did a new excercise, a full set of leg lifts, that focused on this area (for biking) on Saturday. Sunday, it was a little tight, but I played paintball which meant several hard sprints and tons of squatting. Normally I’m not in this much pain, but with the extra endurance I have built up I was able to do more – sprint harder, squat longer -without fatigue. So combining these two exercises or events, my inner-thighs and groin area have been sore for two days.

I rested last night but am dying to go to the gym today.

Heart Rate Monitor

I got a new watch. An early Christmas gift from Chip! It’s a Timex Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) with 30 Lap splits, recover times and performance reviews. It’s great!

I have yet to use it during a workout but find it a very valuable training tool. Targeting certain ‘zones’ during a workout can either help target weight loss by burning calories where most of it is in fat or targeting higher training zones for endurance increasing lactate tolerance in order to fight fatigue better. If you workout to lose weight you need to burn more calories from fat which means you should maintain a heart rate within zone 1 or 2 burning calories of which 85% of it is from fat. This is 50-70% of your maximum heart rate. It would make no sense for higher intensity training when you want to lose weight because at zone 4, yes you burn more calories, but only 15% from fat.

When I’m doing a warm up for 30 minutes or so, I try to stay at zone 1 and 2 for fat burning. But my overall goal is endurance - which will help with Triathlons of course. This is the zone I like to train at which is 80-90% of my maximum heart rate.

A good website where I got this information from is here: The Walking Site

Tiresome weekend

2005-12-19T06:34:00.000-08:00

Aside from two Chirstmas Parties here's how some training went which made me tired this weekend.

On Saturday…
I did some swim training today. During my swim I used training fins. I got to 9 laps (450 meters) for the first time. I did half of the laps swimming on my side and the rest practicing the stroke technique I learned on Wednesday. Whenever I lose concentration I start kicking and I don't move relaxed. But overall, I'm getting use to it. I'm feeling so much more comfortable in the water. Confidence on the swim technique is building but the distance part is still hanging over my head!

Here’s a great website for beginner Triathletes.

Appropriately titled: www.beginnertriathlete.com
All my training logs can be found there.

Some Phone Paintball Pics

On Sunday…
I played Paintball. I got in 6 scenario and 4 speedball games. For the first time in two years I was not winded - I didn't gasp for air nor did I quit because of fatigue. I got in my normal amount of games but had to cut the day short due to other obligations! It was a great day! All because of Triathlon training! While some players were complaining a little about being tired - like I use to do a little more than a month ago - I was not even ready to sit down. I could have played all out all day it seemed! It was great.

Base camp.

My Ton Ton Shocker. As accurate and consistent as it could ever be yesterday. It was awesome!

Crash (2005)

2005-12-19T06:24:00.000-08:00

Where can you see more of a wider range of actors put together like Brenden Fraser, Tony Danza, Sandra Bullock and Terrance Howard all in one movie?

Crash (2005)
My Rating: 8/10

Hmmmmmmm… I liked it. Tons of intertwining relationships – which is hard to do in a film if you ask me, but it moved due to the tons of conflict. I can’t really say there was one real story but there was a thematic through line that you were watching. In one word, “Racisim”. Or even perceived racism. Definitely ignorance could also be used to describe theme. But definitely, this movie was about characters who were treated or treated others in a specific way because of the color of their skin.

Two great scenes in particular really made an impact to me. The Matt Dillon scene with the burning car and the shooting with the little girl. I just sat there saying, ‘wow’. Those scenes built well and really played out well with great acting. After the shooting scene with the little girl I paused the movie, went to Bella, grabbed her from her bed and let her sleep next to me as I watched the rest of the movie.

Good movie if you’re in the mood for an uncomfortable social issue with high tension, tons of drama and conflict and something to make you think. I know it made me think.

A blast from the past... way past!

2005-12-16T06:08:00.000-08:00

I belong to a forum where former students of a martial arts called Okinawa Te (started by Gordon Doversola in the last 50s) get together and talk the art and the old days. One of the subjects was "Stories from different school locations."

Past students post some stories of where they trained, and what happened. There were no more than five or six Dojos open at one time in the US. A few in New Zealand. I know there's actually one in New Zealand now and two 'official' dojos in SoCal still under Gordon Doversola and the Okinawa Te banner. Most of his students left, opened their own schools and basically, went on their own - Masterless so-to-speak.

Here's one of my stories (and I have several). It's a serious blast from the past...

Straight out of a movie script it would seem…

Training Dojo: Atwater Village

I think it was 1988...

I got a call on a Friday afternoon from Bobby Sanabria (one of my training partners and friends) about driving to Laughlin, NV for a trip to the Annual Okinawan Martial Arts Tournament. I wasn’t going to go because I couldn’t get a ride and had to be back for football practice (I was coaching a Highschool team) on Sunday. I wanted to go so bad because Shihan (my Master – Gordon Doversola) told me he was going and I was training for it for months. Shihan rarely went to tournaments back then so it was a special occasion. We (students) would just come back from a tournament, hand him back the higher belt he told us to fight with and share great stories of how we’d clean up on the competition! And yes, we cleaned up on most occasions.

I had won two ‘prep tournaments’ going into this one and was very depressed that I wouldn’t be able to make it. But Bobby saved the day by waiting till I got off work in order to take me up to the tournament - so I decided to ride up with him and Sensei Mike (Mike Pecina) then fly back down right after the tournament on Saturday.

Sensei Mike and Bobby picked me up in Mike’s convertible and we made the Friday night traffic filled trip to Laughlin, NV.

I was able to relax in the back seat with the wind blowing in my face and my walkman on the whole way there. I listened to my “Bad Company” tape all the way. I remember looking at the pitch back desert sky which had a blanket of stars. It was beautiful! And by midnight, we were in Laughlin!

That night, as we walked around the new developing city of Laughlin. That’s where Mike gave me a cool black jacket with the Okinawa Te patch embroidered in the back. It was way too small for him now as he wore it when he was a 120 pound kid. It was perfect for me because I weighed 120 pounds at the time! I wore it with pride.

Saturday morning –

The tournament was a madhouse. Just signing in was hectic. It seemed like there were 10,000 people there that day. I’ve always hated waiting for my matches. Sometimes I’d wait all day just to get a few fights in. But today, I had to make a plane flight at 5:00 PM and with all these people, who knew when my match would start.

Finally, at around 2 PM, they called all the fighters up. ALL the fighters. I’ve never seen so many fighters in one division in my entire life. The line went out the tournament floor, to the stairs and down the stairwell. They (the organizers), for some reason, put all the white and colored belts into one big division. No weight separation, no belt separation. Just white and colored. The browns and blacks had their own divisions. So I was a purple belt fighting, well… EVERYONE! Big guys, small guys, good guys and beginners. There were more than a hundred fighters at the very least.

The question was… how many people was I going to fight?

I think I fought a total of eight guys. So you do the math, the bracket breakdown and you figure out how many were entered in this division. It was hell.

Believe it or not, my hardest fights were the smaller guys. My size. The rules were simple. Pulled punches to the face (focus shots were okay as long as technique was there), crotch shots legal, and only front sweeps were allowed. Three points per match. It was much different than today’s tournament format. Needless to say, every technique, move or attack counted – or you were out in a manner of seconds.

Eight guys in two hours. Yes, my match actually lasted two whole hours. They needed two hours to get through all the fights. Crazy huh?

Well, here’s where the Hollywood story comes in.

My seventh fight came around and I was exhausted from 1) fighting five guys and 2) having to wait around for a long time between matches. I’d be warm, cool down, and have to warm up again seconds before a fight. The sixth fight was tough. And I remember attacking with a reverse punch and getting side kicked in the ribs. The call was a ‘clash’ but I was in pain. They made me sit to catch my breath before we continued the fight. I had no attacks. Every hand technique I threw hurt so I was on the defensive after that.

That’s when ‘that kick’ Sensei Mike taught me leading up to the tournament came into play. I had used it in the last prep tournament and it worked like a charm. Mike was on the side telling me to do it by doing a spin motion with his hands. The other six matches prior to this were both against easy opponents and then much harder, more experienced faster fighters. But this one was the fight I needed to win in order to get to the Final Match!

So I let my feet do the talking. I faked a back hand and side kick, (you know the drill if you trained in Okinawa Te) and the guy backed up. A slight pause and I threw “the kick”. It was a jump spinning crescent kick which missed by a foot. But that’s all I needed because all my opponent knew was that I was wide open after the kick so he came in with a punch. But that’s not what Mike taught me. He taught me to follow up, in the air, with my other leg for an inside crescent. While the guy was coming in for what he thought was a sure point, the inside part of my foot smacked him on the side of the head. I came down to an incredible roar from our Okinawa Te organization. All of them - Semi, Monrovia, Thousand Oaks, Lancaster, Atwater, etc. It was great!

But I was in pain. So much pain it was hard to breath.

Bobby brought me back to Shihan. I had the final fight in five minutes. Shihan’s wife gave me some aspirin while Shihan taped my side up as tight as he could. “What should I do?” I pleaded for instructions. And it seemed like it was straight from the ‘Karate Kid’ when Shihan replied, “Fight with your other side forward.”

I was like, HUH?!?!? But that’s what he told me. And that’s EXACTLY what I did.

I bowed to Shihan and went to face my opponent. With my other side forward of course. The guy was a higher belt and he dominated all his competition. When I watched him fight earlier in the day, I would have put money he would be in the championships. Of course he was bigger and more experienced than me. And of course he had to throw smack talk my way.

But back then… I loved the smack talk. It made me want to kick his ass. And usually – I’m a passive fighter – a contradiction in itself.

I looked over at Mike. “Do the kick.” He mouthed.

The rest is history. After getting a point off of our Okinawa Te side kick which sent him flying into the people in chairs watching the fight, he was NOTHING to me. He attacked, I sidestepped, I faked backhands, faked some kicks and I got him to get aggressive with me. And that’s when I knew I had him. He wanted me and all I had to do was the jump double crescent kick. The first kick took his hands down and he went for the kill but remember, my inside crescent was still to come. And it took care of the side of his head. I think he was dizzy after that so the next time I faked a backhand and did ‘the kick’. This time both landed and the fight was over to loud cheers and a hug from Bobby. I won the Match!

And I was going to miss my flight!

I rushed to change in the bathroom and as I changed I was in so much pain. Black belts from other Okinawan style schools kept complimenting me. They had smiles on their faces, they were telling me how amazing the fight was, and couldn’t believe I beat one of the top fighters at the tourney. One of the judges came up to me and told me it was one of the greatest fights he’s ever seen. “You’re like The Karate Kid” he said. And yes, the whole situation felt like The Karate Kid.

I ran downstairs, got in a cab rushed to Laughlin’s small airport where I just made it in time to board a 19 passenger plane that would take me to Colorado where I’d connect on a bigger plane to LAX. The problem was, my trophy was so big they had a hard time finding a place for it on the small plane!

But it all worked out, I made my flights and I came hope a champ! I’ll never forget that night, that whole day, Shihan at the tournament and his words of advice… “Fight with your other side forward.”

Thanks for the memories Sensei Mike and Bobby!!!

Those were the good old days!

Iron Man in 2007!

2005-12-15T06:01:00.000-08:00

Is that too unrealistic of a goal?

Last night...

Wow – what a workout! My trainer put me through my “Day One” workout, added three exercises to improve swimming, running and biking and made me go through some serious pain.

Instead of 2 sets of 15 on the weight training we went 3 sets of 15! The toughest was left for last - the Bench Press. I’ve never been good at this. Never. And I always avoid it when I’m training on my own. I’d go and do flat barbell flies instead. The 2nd set of 15 was a struggle after 8. Stephen, my trainer, had to spot me to 15. It really felt like he was doing the lifting as I barely pushed. I was squirming, struggling and trying to get my mind to convince my muscles that they could do it. And to make matters worse, I did 60 crunches in between each set of bench presses.

I liked what he said though, “We go through the pain now so we don’t have to the next time.”

To make matters worse, I had to run home.

I decided to run to the gym for my warm-up. It’s 1.3 miles away. I figure if I go through a tough work out and run afterwards it will be great prep for triathlons since running is the last part.

The most important part of my session was the swim technique exercise he taught me. This is the stroke I’ve been trying to figure out through online research and talks with Jessica. He explained it very well and told me my swim will improve if I practice this exercise as much as possible - in and out of the water. I can’t wait to try it in the water!

The run home was so tough. As I turned from Brand to Monterey for the mile stretch to my house, I imagined what an Iron Man Triathlon would be like. Finishing late at night after a 2.4 mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and finishing up with a 26.2 mile run. How do you get your legs to work after 18 hours of that? And that’s what I tried to imagine as I forced myself home.

My run home came after running 1.3 miles to the gym, then doing three sets each of Leg Presses, Seated Calf Raises, Lateral Pull-Downs, Lateral dumbbell Pulls, Bench Presses, 180 crunches, a swimming, a biking, and a running exercise all in an hour and a half.

That’s nothing compared to an Iron Man. But it’s hell of a workout for someone three weeks into this Tri-training thing. I had to convince myself not to stop or walk as I ran home. I just kept my mind on lifting my feet and getting home. It took me 3 minutes longer to get home than it did to get to the gym. But I did it. I got home at 10:45 PM and I can say, this was the hardest workout I’ve ever done! But it was also made possible due to U2's "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" album blasting in my ears!

If I can do all that I’m sure by April ’06 I can do a Sprint Tri with no problem.

And maybe in 2007 – an Iron Man!

If I’m feeling now that a 1/2 mile swim won’t be too bad, what’s wrong with a 2.4 mile swim? It was just two weeks ago when I thought a quarter mile was crazy. Now I’m aiming for more!

Okay… maybe I'll aim for an Irom Man Tri in like 2008... maybe 2009. But yes, my goal is to eventually do an Iron Man Triathlon before I go to heaven.

Tribute to Sable...

2005-12-15T05:58:00.000-08:00

It was right before Christmas, 1992.

My puppy, Sable, a three month old sharpei, was acting weird that night. She was incoherent. Just wandering the room along the walls. She wouldn't respond to my calls, to jump on the bed, to eat, to sit, nothing!

Finally she fell asleep but kept waking up wandering around my room bumping into things.

I called the ER and they told me to bring her in because I couldn't open her mouth and her eyes were dilated.

I brought her to the Animal ER and they examined her and told me she may have had a stroke and her brain was affected. She finally fell asleep (after hours of non-stop wandering and bumping into things) and I carried her to my car. I sat outside my house, stroking her back and letting her sleep. I was crying most of the time because I was scared of losing her and also feeling sad for her. It was 7 Am when she finally woke up in my car.

I got to the Vets at 10AM. And they did a series of tests and called me to let me know she had (from what I remember) a shunt in her heart or something. The recommendation was to put her to sleep.

I went to see her at 4:00 PM. She was completely normal. She was so happy to see me. She was jumping, licking and just wanting to go home. The doc asked me if I wanted to spend some time with her.

For thirty minutes we played in the examining room. I held her tight. I held her sooo tight. I held her one last time and then told the doc he could take her.

They took her away. I watched as she whimpered on the shoulder of the person carrying her away. She was staring at me, wondering why I wasn't taking her home.

I broke down in tears when the doors closed behind her.

It was toughest thing I've ever went through in my entire life.

I tear up just thinking about that last moment I had with her.

Upside of Anger movie review

2005-12-14T06:30:00.000-08:00

Upside to Anger (2005)
My rating: 7/10

This is a tough movie to rate. I liked it, but I can’t really give you a good idea of what it was all about. It was a relationship movie but it seemed it skirted along just touching the relationships of a Mom (Joan Allen), her four girls and her love interest (Kevin Costner). It didn’t really get deep enough. It almost did. But it didn’t. It is a character driven movie with no plot but then there was a plot twist.

See what I mean? A tough movie to like, yet a movie you can like only because Joan Allen is excellent and Kevin Costner was very… I can’t find the words. Nice? Kevin Costner was nice? That’s all I could think of.

Costner played an ex-baseball star. This is his fourth, if not more, movie where he was a baseball player. Bull Durham, Field of Dreams (kinda), For the Love of the Game and this.

I liked the movie because of the relationships. I didn’t like the movie because it tried but really didn’t get moving on the relationships. If it did, it could have gotten deeper and more dramatic. To be honest, I’m not sure if this movie knew what it was. A romantic dramedy, or a just a drama.

My TriTraining Update

2005-12-14T06:25:00.000-08:00

I got into the pool about two weeks ago for my first swim. I was done after struggling with 3 laps (150) meters. I wasn't doing anything right.

Finally I did some research on the net and put away the swim training till after my first 5K run. I researched swim technique and relaxation and how to swim on your side. Boy, all this was new to me.

I tried it last night for the first time - along with some training fins.

I did 8 laps - 4 laps on my right and 4 laps on my left. After the 7th lap, swimming on my right side felt more comfortable and relaxed yet my left side I sank and fatigued every 15 meters or so.

But what a difference it makes to really relax.

I followed this my weight training for an hour than a 1 mile run to get my legs back after a days rest following the 5K on Sunday. Both the strength training and the run were tough as I haven't been to the gym in 6 days.

I'm planning on doing a MiniSprintTriathlon on Feb 12, 2005. It's backwards. A 5K Run - 10 mile Bike - 100 yard swim (in a heated pool!). This should give me a good idea of what a SprintTri will be like in April.

Christmas Tree Lighting & a quick movie review

2005-12-13T05:56:00.000-08:00

At three o’clock they announced a Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony in the lobby. So I got my camera phone and went over. I can’t miss these things. There’s always some cookies, hot apple cider (which I love!) and Christmas carolers.

I stayed for like two songs, ate a cooke, sipped on hot apple cider, took some pics then went back to my office.

And here are the pics.

MOVIE REVIEW MOVIEW REVIEW MOVIEW REVIEW!!!

My Rating: 10/10 – YES… 10/10!!!

God I love this movie! It was one of the 'better ones' that Jennifer Lopez did. You know, before she became "J-LO" she was just an actress trying to find good roles. I look at her list of movies after this movie and can't find anything better. She went from Selena (what may say was her break out role and I thought it was pretty good too), to Anaconda (a Meh flim to say the least) then to U-Turn which was a mediocre movie. Finally she landed Out of Sight. Then it was nothing of value after that. Money Train and Jack (which were before Selena) were good, but that's the measure of her movie career with Out of Sight being the top and going down from there. A bunch of rom-coms that didn't even make a blip on any radar, and a very overly publicized relaitionship with Ben Affleck gave her a running start in Jersey Girl. But that bombed and from what I can see, so has her career.

What happened??? Was Monster-In-Law any good?

Then there's George Clooney. Getting better with age maybe?

Was Three Kings just ultra-cool? O Brother where Art Thou - cool. Perfect Storm - kinda cool. (Then he hit a road bump with Ocean's 11 & 12 stuff). But then on to Good Night and Good Luck and what some are saying is the best movie of the year, Syriana.

What an opposite direction in maybe movie choices and a movie career.

"I run so I do not lose the me I was yesterday and the me I might be tomorrow" – George Sheehan

2005-12-12T09:52:00.000-08:00

The Los Angeles “Say No To Drugs” 5th Annual 5K/10K Run.

The whole event (the race festival) was a thrill and exciting. They expected over 1,000 runners there. It’s not the atmosphere of the LA Marathon, but it is what it is (or it was what it was) - the first organized race I’ve been a part of and it was electrifying!

I stood at the starting area behind the faster runners. It was nice to know that there were three people that I knew. Steve, one of my lifelong friends and his brother in-law, Mikey. Both had run a 5K event about a month ago. Vivian, my wife’s cousin, and I were new to all this but it was nice to run with others we knew. Steve has been running with Mikey doing 3.3 miles at the Rose Bowl and Vivian has been running for a while. I realized I was the least ‘seasoned’ runner. I had two weeks treadmill work and one road run under my belt but felt comfortable enough to hold an under 11 minute pace - which was my goal - to finish the race with a pace between 10 and 11 minutes.

Mikey, Vivian and I decided to pace each other as Steve was going to take off ahead of us with his under 9 minute pace.

I looked at our first challenge. Right off the start we would have to do a climb. My goal was to take it easy, make the climb, make up time down on the other side and get my running legs some time to get going. From what I’ve experienced in the two weeks of running, it takes about a mile for my legs to actually work! They feel like led for ten or so minutes and then they are fine.

Three minutes to go and I felt like I had to pee. I looked around for the bathroom. Did I have time? No way! Two minutes to go and I was feeling the excitement build around me. It was getting really crowded, there was a buzz of conversation and finally, before we knew it, the countdown from three… two… one!

A fast walk turned into an uphill run as people found their space and we spread out.

Yes, my legs felt like led. And adrenaline pushed me to the top of the hill as I saw Steve begin to disappear ahead of me. Vivian and Mikey were right behind as we made the decent and the turn toward the 1 mile mark.

Mikey caught up to me at the 1 mile mark and I looked at my watch to check my pace. It read: 9:15. Whoa. That was way too fast. Usually my first mile during workouts are the slowest. Then I pick up and end with a faster last mile. This pace excited me as well as worried me. I liked that pace but knew it could tire me too fast. So I slowed up.

There’s something about running with a group of people – nobody speaks to each other, but all have a common goal. It’s like a force of energy pulling you together and pushing you forward. There’s also a sense of serenity. Peace. Almost spiritual.

All this until your breathing becomes labored. And your mind tells you that it’s impossible to continue. And that’s exactly what happened to me.

And the battle inside my head began.

I start making excuses as I tried desperately to search for the 2 mile mark that never seemed to come. The voices in my head kept reminding me - that its okay to walk if I want - that two weeks training was not enough to all of a sudden finish a 5K at a reasonable time - that since its my first one its okay to give up. These thoughts can make any runner lose focus. It made me lose focus and I ran past the 2 mile mark without even seeing it.

And then I found myself in absolute pain.

"Pain. Love it, hate it, get angry at it. Breath it with every breath, feel it with every step and use it. It lets you know you are still alive, more alive than most people will be in their whole lives." – Strauss

Despite the pain, turning for the last stretch gave me more motivation to keep going and to pick up my pace. I heard my self talk out loud - just a little bit more - push it - pick up the pace - catch Mikey and Vivian who are a few seconds ahead.

Finally, after what seems like eternity, I saw the finish line. And I was at the heels of Vivian. And I gave it a little bit more push, I pumped my arms a little harder. My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest, and then I crossed the finish line and fumbled with my stop watch and desperately tried to remember what button to press to stop the time.

31:24.

I feet like a champion. I felt like I could have and should have done better already – despite all the negative thoughts during the run. And before I even handed the race volunteer my race tag number, before I even had a few seconds to catch my breath or realize the race was actually done, I couldn’t wait to do another one!

And consider this - I hate running.

I wouldn’t run if I didn’t have to. I started for health reasons. I started so I could live long enough to watch Jake walk to the plate as the leadoff hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I did it so I have a chance to be there when Bella eventually becomes the comic relief of a sitcom - which seems she’s been preparing for since birth. I did it so I can see Jessica play basketball in college and eventually graduate Med school like she wants. I did it because of my beautiful wife and because I feel like I’ve accomplished everything whenever she says, “I’m proud of you.” I did it for my wife, my kids and my desire to stay alive.

"I run so I do not lose the me I was yesterday and the me I might be tomorrow" - George Sheehan

And consider this – I’m a terrible swimmer.

I’m doing a Sprint Triathlon in June.

And I’m scared to death!!!

Thanks to Mindy, Steve’s wife, who got to the race just as we got down the hill. She was able to take some pictures.

Here we are about 1.5 miles into the race. Vivian, Me and Mikey.

Me, Vivian, Mikey and Steve. That’s not sweat on my shirt. That’s half my water bottle.

Me, Steve and Mikey.

I can’t wait to experience something like this with Donna.

From the couch to the Gym - and never looking back!

2005-12-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

I did it! My first organized 5k! The Los Angeles Say No To Drugs 5th annual run!

I went too fast on my first mile with 9:15 min mile. And it was up a hill! Then I didn't notice the 2 mile mark and wanted to pick up the pace after that but missed it. Finally the last stretch was a real struggle. My breathing was labored with the cold air but I made sure I had my medication with me.

My unofficial time was: 00:31.24

I can't wait till the next one!

Meetings, meetings and more meetings.

2005-12-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm sick.

I’ve been fighting off something lately. Tuesday I took some time off from my workout, went back to the gym for a great workout on Wednesday, felt sick on Thursday and my body was totally craving sleep! So Thursday I went to bed when the kids went to bed. Around 7:00 PM. I slept till 7:00 AM and was still craving sleep. But I got up (and had a day off) but struggled through the day on Friday. One word – diarrhea! Gross.Yuck. Ick! I had four meetings scheduled and there were no ‘accidents’ thank goodness.

Dale and I went to The La Brea Bakery (Hollywood) and had a great meeting with a person high up in the film distribution and acquisition food chain who said, “I want to work with you guys.” She asked to see two of my scripts too! The meeting was very promising.

Then I drove to Monrovia and had a quick meeting about writing an article for some car products.

Dale and I then met up again in Eagle Rock with someone interested in putting together a series of martial arts instructional videos. Which we hope to shoot as soon as possible!

Then back to Glendale to meet my friend who has a road bike he wants to sell! It’s a great deal! It looks a little like this:

All this starting at 9:30 AM and back home at 4:30 PM. No big deal – except I had stomach problems and yes, that one word – diarrhea!

Walking Dead Action

2005-12-10T08:11:00.000-08:00

Resident Evil (2002)
My Rating: 8/10

As far as zombie movies go, this is one of the better ones in my opinion. It’s definitely not a Romero Zombie film that’s for sure. It’s less campy – which I like. It is a strong sci-fi horror film filled with action, suspense and just enough zombie creepiness to keep you on edge. Unfortunately, my zombie script has some similar sequences in it – which is odd since I didn’t watch RE till now.

I recommend this film as a fun popcorn movie on a Saturday night!

Ong-Bak

2005-12-09T07:10:00.000-08:00

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003)
My Rating: 8/10

This has got to be one of the best martial arts action movies I’ve ever seen. But then there was just too much of it! I didn’t want more. I didn’t need more fight scenes. I actually thought the old adage fit - less is more! But you get what you get. And the fight scenes didn't seem cool anymore - just old. It felt the story ran itself out so they filled it in with more fight scenes in the end. There were a few funny parts – comic relief by the ‘chubby side-kick’ – and the movie itself was pretty formulaic hero stuff. It definitely made me want to learn the art of Muai Thai!

I recommend this to the martial arts movie buff and those who are curious about Muai Thai style fighting outside of the kickboxing styles we generally see on TV.

Cajun Salmon Sandwich Recipe

2005-12-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

I get these recipe of the day emails for health conscious people from the gym. And when I read this one I was drooling!

I'm going to have to make this for Friday night's dinner!

Cajun Salmon Sandwich Recipe

4 (4 ounce) salmon filets
4 (6-inch) rolls, split and lightly toasted
1 cup shredded cabbage
8 tomato slices
3 tablespoons lowfat mayonnaise
2-3 tablepoons powdered Cajun spice, divided
Nonstick cooking spray
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon wedges

Heat a heavy skillet over high heat for 10-15 minutes. Mix mayonnaise and 1 tablespoon Cajun spice (more or less to reach desired hotness). Lightly spray both sides of salmon filets with nonstick cooking spray and sprinkle with remaining Cajun spice.

Place salmon in the hot skillet to blacken; cook 2-3 minutes per side or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.

Spread mayonnaise mixture onto each roll, top with blackened salmon, tomato and 1/4 cup shredded cabbage. Squeeze with lemon juice and serve.

Makes 4 Servings
Serving Size: 1 sandwich

And for the health conscious, here's all the stats...

Nutrients per serving:

Calories: 273
Total fat: 9 grams (31% of calories)
Saturated fat: 2 grams
Cholesterol: 63 mg
Sodium: 606 mg
Carbohydrate: 21 grams (31% of calories)
Protein: 26 grams (38% of calories)
Dietary fiber: 2 grams

Exchanges per serving*:
Starch/Bread 1
Lean Meat 3
Vegetable 1/2
Fruit 0
Non-fat Milk 0
Fat 1
Other Carbohydrate 0

I'm "Bonking"!

2005-12-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

“Bonking” – hypoglycemia, which is marked by tiredness, irritability, dizziness, nausea, confusion, and sometimes fainting. Blood glucose gets depleted and you Bonk!

Yeah… I’m tired, irritable, dizzy… I’m also sick of work. But that’s a common phase in the life of The Hungry Screenwriter. The work thing! Ugh. I go through this, “What am I doing with my life?” crap and I get all pissy. It’s the same thing over and over. Number crunching, stressed out, and non-creative nine hour days ‘bookended’ by bumper to bumper traffic.

Bonking doesn’t help. I’ve been really careful with what I eat - really trying hard to do this 40% Carb 60% Protein thing to lose weight. I cut back on rice, eat more vegies and lean meat with my servings and eat till I’m satisfied versus stuffed like a turkey! It’s tough. But its eventually turning into habit – which is great. I’ve cut soda, I’m drinking more water, I’m eating healthy snacks in between meals for about six ‘meals’ a day, and I’m working out.

I’ve questioned my ambitions of becoming a Triathlete (only because I can’t swim well) but have never thought of quitting. Obstacles like money for equipment, training time and motivation will always get in the way, but I’m not going to quit. What would suck would be injury and sickness. So I’m so careful in how I workout and really try to stay fit to avoid sickness.

So yeah, I’m bonking. That’s the only other explanation to my tiredness, irritability, dizziness, confusion and mood swings. I’m not nauseous and I haven’t fainted. But I’m on the verge.

I need more carbs. GIVE ME RICE!

Who would you love to sing like?

2005-12-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

Melissa Ethridge? Tom Jones? Britney? Or maybe even Elvis?

Who would it be?

I've always wished I could sing like Bono.

The band has been nominated with five Grammy awards this year including Album and song of the year! The best rock song? - City of Blinding Lights! Which I love!

And U2’s music is the best running music to listen to.

Go U2!

“City Of Blinding Lights “

The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go
I knew much more then than I do now

Neon heart dayglo eyes
A city lit by fireflies
They’re advertising in the skies
For people like us

And I miss you when you’re not around
I’m getting ready to leave the ground….

Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh

Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights

Don’t look before you laugh
Look ugly in a photograph
Flash bulbs purple irises
The camera can’t see

I’ve seen you walk unafraid
I’ve seen you in the clothes you made
Can you see the beauty inside of me?
What happened to the beauty I had inside of me

And I miss you when you’re not around
I’m getting ready to leave the ground

Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh

Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights

Time… time
Won’t leave me as I am
But time won’t take the boy out of this man

Oh you look so beautiful tonight
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights

The more you know the less you feel
Some pray for others steal
Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel… luckily

Mood swings...

2005-12-06T14:44:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a song on the radio can change your mood in an instant. Unfortunately, the song comes and goes and you are back in the same old funk.

“Feeling Groovy”
by Simon and Garfunkel

Slow down, you move too fast, you've got to make the morning last
Just kickin' down the cobble-stones, lookin' for fun and feelin' groovy

Feeling groovy

Hello lamp-post, what's cha knowing, I've come to watch your flowers growin'
Ain't cha got no rhymes for me, do-it-do-do, feelin' groovy

Feeling groovy

I've got no deeds to do, no promises to keep
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me

Life I love you, all is groovy
Ba da da da da da da ba bap a dee...

"When you're going through hell, keep on going." W. Churchill

2005-12-05T23:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I ran 2.5 miles and suffered through every inch. I basically gave up at 2.5 miles. A lot had to do with my asthma. I was wheezing and I didn’t have my medication. But it was manageable and I could have finished 3 miles if my mind was set on it. It was torture. It was frustrating. It was hell.

Last night I was researching potential Triathlons for me to sign up for. I narrowed it down to two in June. One in Sacramento and one at Redondo Beach. I’m not sure which one to sign up for. The Sacramento one is appealing because you swim in a lake. But the run is five miles. The one at Redondo Beach is an ocean swim but a shorter run – 5K. But both swims are a half a mile long. Not a quarter mile, but half a mile! Today I had a panic attack at work. I kept thinking to myself, A HALF MILE SWIM? A HALF MILE SWIM?!?! I CAN’T SWIM A HALF MILE!

I wake up in the middle of the night thinking - what did I get myself into? I mean, I’m not going to quit or anything. There’s no way. But my brain is trying to find excuses to get me to quit. Bikes are too expensive. I can’t swim. I can’t even run 3 miles without pain and torture and I have to be able to do at least 5 miles in training to prepare for the Triathlon in June.

Tonight, after a light sushi dinner, I waited about two and a half hours before going to the gym. I stood in the living room, frustrated, stressed and without hope thinking - I’m just going to go to bed. That’s when Donna said to go. So I went.

At half a mile I thought to myself that that was enough of a warm up and just go ahead and do weights. But I decided to force myself to the mile mark where I decided - I’ll just see how much I’ll last. Maybe another half mile. Pretty soon I was at the two mile mark and my brain kept telling me - That’s enough! That’s enough! At 2.5 miles I was already at yesterday’s mark and my brain said - Okay, you made it to yesterday’s mark so you should stop now. But I kept going and pushed it to the end. I was able to hit the 10:41 a mile pace which is nearly 20 seconds faster than Friday’s 11 min/mile pace!

Finishing three miles motivated me to really push my weight training. I did everything with good form and focus. I increased my weight on most exercises and came home completely exhausted!

I have six solid months to learn some serious swim techniques, get on a bike and learn the ways of road cycling and increase my overall endurance so I can run the last leg of a triathlon without dying.

It’ll be hell for sure.

"When you're going through hell, keep on going." W. Churchill

Yeah – that’s my motto!

"It's hip to be Clip!"

2005-12-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks to RIP Factor Teammate Ryan - Jake and I got $150 tickets to the Clipper game FOR FREE!!! Ryan is a towel boy for the Clips so he gets tickets to the games. The Clippers were hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers with King James! What a treat. We were 14 rows back at half court and had great seats! This was Jake’s first NBA game and he really liked it. And to top it off, the Clips won big. 102 to 90! They avenged their loss from last week at Cleveland and stayed just percentage points ahead of Golden State for 1st place in the Pacific Division!

I sure hope we could do it again! It was a lot of fun.

Here are some phone pics…

Jake at his first professional basketball game! "It's hip to be Clip!"

Can Jake make it to halftime? It's way past his bedtime.

Labron James is somewhere in there.

And there's Ryan the towel boy! Go Ryan!

I asked Jacob who his favorite basketball team is now. He replied, "Lakers, Clippers & Spurs!"

Finally, he said the Clippers. I've been trying to sway his vote but he's been into the Lakers, Spurs & Heat lately.

Take that UNCLE JAMES! :)

Three miles!

2005-12-02T23:11:00.000-08:00

I DID IT! I ran my first 3 miles since 1993! I can't believe how much weight training has helped me in my running. After two weeks of 1 to 2 miles I finally decided to go 3 miles on a treadmill. At 2.5 miles I was feeling it. I was amazed that up until then my breathing was not labored and my legs were fine. I pushed my pace the last half and nearly got to 33 minutes flat!

After that I did an hour of weight training.

Leg extensions
Hamstring curls
Back assisted pulldowns
Tricep assisted dips
Triceps Pulley pushdowns
Biceps straight bar standing curls
Football training (run in place for 5 seconds, drop and one pushup, then run in place for 5 sec, etc. - for 30 seconds)
60 crunches

I was able to complete my DAY TWO workout schedule after a three mile run!

The last time I did three miles was actually a five mile run I had to do in training camp back in 1993 with the Anaheim Bullfrogs of the RHI. I labored then as running has NEVER been my forte. But this 3 miles seemed like a breeze - with an easy 11 minute pace of course. I need to do this every day till next Sunday because I'm running in a 5K at the Griffith Park 5th Annual LA Run/Walk event. It's the "Say No To Drugs Race". My first ever organized race. 3 miles really doesn't seem like a problem.

The gym is awsome on a friday night. Nobody is there!

I'm tired!

Here's the 411 for you...

2005-12-02T23:08:00.000-08:00

High cost of 411 service on your cell phone getting you down? Check this free service out.

Thanks to my friend Eric who reminded me of this - I thought I’d post it in my blog.

This can be found on Jeff Levy’s site.

FREE 411 FOR THE MOBILE MASSES
Let me set the scene for you. You’ve driving around, trying futilely to find a specific restaurant but you refuse to call directory assistance on your cell phone because it's too expensive. Do you know how expensive 411 calls on your cell phone? Some cell phone directory assistance calls can cost you as much as…are you ready for this> $3.49. That’s outrageous! And it gets worse. 92 cents of every dollar you spend on 411 calls, is profit. Did I mention that cell phone carriers rake in $8 billion a year in 411 calls? It made me so mad that I went out and found a work-around…free directory assistance.

A service called free411 is designed to give you a way to avoid paying directory assistant call fees by providing that service to you free of charge.

Is there a gotcha here? Do you still have to pay for something that is billed as being free? The bad news… there’s still no free lunch. The good news. All you have to do is bear with a bit of advertising before getting the goodies.

Free411 subjects you to a 10-second ad before providing the requested number. But the idea is that the ad--which will likely be for a competitor of whoever's number you asked for, and which will usually offer a discount from the competitor--will attract you enough to have your call directed to the competitor.

Free411 gets its directory assistance data from the same sources as phone carriers, it says, so regardless of who ends up on the line after a caller requests a number, the number will be accurate. Let’s face it - ten seconds of advertising is a small price to pay for saving money each time someone wants a phone number.

So here’s what you do. Dial 800FREE411 – and yes, this service does connect you free of charge. See what you can learn here on the computer news show?

For more info go to: Jeff Levey and look up show notes for Oct 1 & 2.

Can you give me one thousand bucks?

2005-12-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

Road bikes ready for tri competition are so fricken expensive! I mean, I don’t need the best bike in the world. I just need something that is comfortable and at the very least, capable of any type of Triathlon at a beginner level. I’ve come across two that I have to decide on. A Specialized Allez Elite Duo or a Giant OCR 2. The price… get this… $1000 for the Specialized and $750 for the Giant. WHAT THE F?!?

And these are considered ‘starter’. It only moves up in price from there.

My dilemma is this. A Triathlon is hard enough. Why ride a $500 bike and suffer when a $1000 can make your ride more comfortable and eventually easier and ultimately faster? Yeah, anyone can take a Mountain Bike and compete and finish a Tri event. There is no question about that. But it’s like running a 5K with a pair of K-Swiss instead of running of using running shoes like Brooks or my Asics! You can defiantly run with K-Swiss, but why not go with comfort and weight and eventually speed with a better running shoe?

Everywhere I’ve researched, from triathletes who have been into the sport less than a year to those who are seasoned vets have all said, spend more on a bike than you’re comfortable with. I’m comfortable, in a way, in spending $750 for a bike. Which means $1000 should be the price I should pay. But then I have to spend money on all the gear and equip as well.

Paintball was the same. Why not go for the $1000 gun and spend more than you’re comfortable with spending rather than be longing for a better, faster performing marker because you spent $500 bucks!?!? Same thing as my bike situation.

Problem is. I don’t have $1000 bucks!!!

The Specialized Allez Elite

And the Giant OCR 2

Brain Dead...

2005-12-01T09:45:00.000-08:00

Map of the brain...

I was doing an analysis with data through October. I separated it by naming two sets of data Jan-May 05 & Jun-Oct 05 for easy downloading.

I wanted to make sure I was getting five months worth of data for each download and yes January, February, March, April, May = Five months. I looked at my other data and thought, JUNE? June through October is not five months. I counted on my fingers… June, July, October. That’s three! But October is the TENTH month and if I go from Jan thru May, that’s five right? Then June, July, October! That’s only three!

I went over the first five months again making sure my count was right by reciting the months in my head. Yes, Jan thru May is five months. And after May – I had to make sure - is June! And June, July, October is three months. THREE MONTHS?!?!?!

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!?
………………………………………………………………………

Don’t worry. I figured it out.

Chessboxing – my new sport?

2005-12-01T05:53:00.000-08:00

Now, I’m going to guess there’s not that many boxers that are great at chess. I’m pretty good. I can also fight. And if you put me up against a chess geek, I’ll probably knock him out or hit him hard enough he’ll go to the chess board and move his queen out too early.

What am I talking about?

Chessboxing!

“BERLIN — Martin "Amok" Thomas is jabbing a right, but Frank "so-cool-he-doesn't-need-a-nickname" Stoldt is as elusive as a ribbon in the wind. He can't be hit.

Time.

The gloves come off, and the men hurry across the canvas to the chessboard. (You heard it right.) Amok took a couple of body shots, and he's breathing hard, but he'd better focus. That Stoldt, though, everyone in the gym knows he's this warrior-thinker, slamming the speed clock, cunningly moving his queen amid unraveling bandages and dripping sweat, daring Amok to leave him a sliver of opportunity.

Time.

Velcro rips. Amok slides back into his Everlast gloves, bites down on his mouthpiece, dances along the ropes. His king's in trouble, and his punches couldn't knock lint off a jacket. Stoldt floats toward him like a cloud of big hurt.

For more...

You’ll have to read it here: ”By Hook or by Rook”

But the basic concept is… You box for four minutes in a ring (DING) then run to the chessboard for four minutes of chess. (DING) And then you resume your boxing match till someone is KO’d or Checkmated.

Okay… maybe it’s not my next new sport. But I probably would have whooped every chess player in my high school in both boxing and chess! Too bad they didn’t have scholarships for this back then.

Once again - A day in the life…

2005-11-30T06:24:00.000-08:00

GLENN’S TOMATO BASIL SPINACH SHRIMP ASPARAGUS EXPERIMENT

I rushed home yesterday in order to pick up the kids and cook dinner by a decent hour. I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up some asparagus, a bag of spinach and some shrimp. Unfortunately they didn’t have any fresh shrimp so I got a pack of frozen shrimp. Which is a lot cheaper but I like fresh shrimp.

I picked up the kids, got them to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas DVD and got to work in the kitchen.

I got the water boiling for the penne before anything else. Then I diced a nearly a whole bulb of garlic, sliced up cherry tomatoes into half, chopped up the asparagus and defrosted the shrimp in warm water. I like doing all the prep before throwing things on the fire so-to-speak.

I sliced up a stick of butter and melted it in my 12 inch skillet then tossed the garlic in. I love that smell! I got the asparagus cooking in another frying pan and added the tomatoes into the garlic/butter mix after a couple of minutes.

When the tomatoes softened I dumped the whole bag of spinach leaves into the mix.

Just about when the pasta was almost cooked, I added the shrimp to the garlic/buttter mix and squeezed some lime onto it. It takes about three or four minutes for shrimp to cook and as I pulled the pasta off the stove, I added the asparagus, some salt and a little pepper. I drained the penne then tossed it into my garlic/butter/spinach/tomato/asparagus/shrimp concoction and added a pinch or two of basil.

Then I served it up. Total prep/cook time is about 40 minutes. Which was perfect timing. The kids watched two Charlie Brown Christmas episodes then sat down for dinner at 6:15PM.

I wasn’t too thrilled with the dinner. Jake liked it. Donna said it was yum when she got home and Bella kinda liked it. She wasn’t too hungry.

After a chocolate chip cookie and warm milk, the kids were in bed by 7:15. WHEW!

But at least I have lunch for today and I don’t have to spend any money!

Donna got home around 8:00 and I went off to the gym.

TRIATHLON TRAINING
At 8:30 I headed to the gym and tried out the swim thing for the first time. It was rather frustrating. First, I have NO technique and my arms fatigued right away. My breathing was incredibly labored and I struggled through the last lap. And I only did THREE! That’s only 150 meters. I need to get to 400. I need to sustain 20 minutes of swimming. Straight! It took about five minutes overall to do the 150 meters. And as I look at it, I think I pushed my pace too fast too soon. At five minutes for 150 meters that’s a 13 minute 400. That's crazy! If I went easy, I may have been able to do maybe one more lap. But after that I was exhausted and still had to get my weight training done.

Overall, the workout was a bit blah. I had a horrible night’s sleep and I woke up sore.

I’ll be doing the stationary bike tonight for about twenty minutes.

I’m training for a Triathlon

2005-11-29T06:16:00.000-08:00

Yes. I said it. My goal is to swim, bike, run a Triathlon by May of 2006. No-no-no… not one of those Iron Man 20 hour competitions on TV. Something, well, more ‘doable’ as they say. A “Sprint Triathlon”. It amounts to about a quarter mile swim, a six mile bike ride and a three mile run. Sounds easy enough doesn’t it? The only thing that scares me is the swim. I can’t swim very well but that is going to change. I don’t have a bike unless I want to go six miles on my old BMX bike. Doable, but really… I’d rather get on a road bike.

I’ve looked through several training programs and believe I can start a Triathlon training program by January once I build up a base training. Which I’ve started with my trainer. This all started because I wanted to have more athleticism while playing paintball and to eventually train to run the LA Marathon. Which I’ll eventually do. But I hate running long distances. Not because it’s hard or a challenge, but because my iPod would probably run out of batteries before the end of the race. Basically, marathon races are boring. The challenge of swimming in the ocean – which I absolutely hate because I don’t want to drown or get ripped apart by a shark, getting on a bike and speeding on a road coarse on a sprint, and running a sprint three ‘miler’ is VERY appealing to me. I’ve always wanted to do it. But I never took initiative. Mainly due to the lack of motivation.

I doubt I’ll ever do more than a Sprint Triathlon, but that’s what everyone else says – is what I hear. Once you do it, you’re hooked and you want a bigger challenge. I’ve met some Triathletes online that share the same story as me. 30ish, not doing anything, eating poor, health issues are of concern, rarely doing anything but work, kids, and an occasional game of hoop… then going from couch to a Sprint Triathlon training program. And now they’re hooked.

I mean, I’m hooked! I want to go to the gym every day. I just can’t. Tonight I’m testing the waters. Literally. My trainer wants me to do laps at the pool for as long as I can. Eight laps equals a quarter mile. That’s swimming to the end then back as one lap and so on and so forth. I believe I can do one lap at least. But I’ll find out tonight.

I’ve been feeling really energized. If I were to get back into fighting, it’d take me a week to get my wind and go full contact right now. But I’m resisting the temptation due to the fear of head injury and brain damage! ;) But you never know. I good pounding on someone is a serious soul cleanser sometimes!

Here’s some good resources if you are interested:

and where you can find me from time to time:

BeginnerTriathlete.com

Wish me luck! :)

Phone Pic Pixtoiral

2005-11-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

Not much of a pixtorial but a set of random pictures taken by my awesome new phone, the Palm Treo650!

Donna playing with her phone.

Bella eating rice at Octopus Sushi restaurant.

Jacob taking a break from his California Roll.

My single 21 year old cousin just out of nursing school!

My 21 year old cousin in college with an 'undecided' major - (dating status unknown)

Makena talking on the cell.

View from my office window.

Stay up-to-date with my photos! Check them periodically here:

Glenn’s Photo Gallery

The Last Samurai quick review and some extra stuff.

2005-11-27T07:19:00.000-08:00

The Last Samurai
Rating: 8/10

I watched ‘The Last Samurai’ once again on HBO. I wasn’t going to watch it but I got hooked right after the first big battle in the dark forest. After that I wanted to see the Ninja attack on the village. That was the best part of the movie. And so I decided to finish it up. And despite the long drawn out Hollywood ending, the movie was pretty darn good. I felt the same way, way back in January of 2004 when it was out. Here was my review: ”The Last Samurai” review. I gave it an 8/10 rating back then. I think it still holds up as a strong 8/10 still.

Good rental. But don’t D&W – drink and watch. You might fall asleep if you do.

I give Mr. Cruise a big whopping rating of 3/10. Just think… January 2004 I would have given him a 10/10 rating because I’ve always thought Tom totally cool! Then the next thing you know he’s hopping on couches, telling people they don’t know this that or the other thing, bashing one of his first coworkers, Brooke Shields, from his first movie ‘Endless Love’, and getting married to some poor helpless girl captured by his spell who, by the way, broke all her religious and moral beliefs to be with a nut job - got pregnant before marriage, obviously had sex before marriage when she was ‘saving herself’, and is now quitting the glamour of glitz and success of Hollywood just when she was getting hot and to cap things off… she can’t take drugs or make any noise while giving birth. BRILLIANT!

That being said… I’m still going to watch his films and I’ll probably like ‘em all! Tom Cruise rating: 3/10.

Gordon has a new home.

2005-11-26T23:37:00.000-08:00

He did it. A month and 10 days. I always said, if this dumb goldfish makes it a month, I’ll get him a tank. Well, he got a tank and he’s quite happy – I think.

Inspired by what my cousin did with her beautifully decorated wedding goldfish bowl and surviving fish, I felt it necessary to put in the extra effort now that Gordon has a name and has willed his way into FIVE weeks.

I just hope a filtered tank, some plant decor and a castle is all he needs to be safe, healthy and alive for who knows how long.

He has more room to play, cleaner water and a light to go with it. The guy is a fighter. Out of five, he’s the lone survivor. And I didn’t give him much credit until now. Five weeks and a couple of days in a muggy watered fish bowl and he’s a survivor. The goldfish paid his dues. He now is the King of his own domain so-to-speak, with a castle to boot. Or something that resembles a castle.

And to celebrate this occasion, here are a few pics of the never before seen on the Internet… “GORDON THE GOLDFISH”!

Gordon being tentative around his new surroundings, “A corner. And another corner. And another! And one more? I can swim around this green thing and in through this castle thing and around this redish cabbage looking thing. THIS IS THE BEST!”

Gordon slowly adjusting to his new home. “It’s not so bad. What am I thinking. It’s better than that sewage water hell hole called a fish bowl!”

“Ah… the comforts of a new home.”

Gordon claiming his new domain. “I’m Goldfish of the world!”

Gordon inspecting the filtration system. “Note to Gordon’s self. Don’t try to swim up filtration. Nemo got stuck up there and there’s no other goldfish to help BECAUSE THEY ALL DIED!!!”

Gordon clicking his heels and thinking, “There’s no place like a filtered fish tank with plants, a light and a castle!” He repeated that three times in the muggy waters of wedding fish bowl and look where it got him! :) Happy days!

From Happy Days to the Karate Kid...

2005-11-25T09:33:00.000-08:00

One of my all time heroes, Mr. Miyagi - Pat Morita - has passed away. I grew up watching him as Arnold on Happy Days. And then he taught Daniel-san the Crane move. "When done right, no can defense."

I was inspired to be a Martial Artist because of Mr. Miyagi. He taught me a lesson in The Karate Kid:

"That the secret to Karate lies in the mind and heart. Not in the hands."

And although Jacob is very young he also has learned something from Mr. Miyagi.

He learned how to catch flies with chopsticks!

Pat Morita, Arnold, Mr. Miyagi... You will be missed.

Thanks for the memories!

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

This is the one time of the year where friends, family and others gather together around the table and give thanks to lifes treasures. Big or small.

And then...

YOU STUFF YOURSELF TILL YOU CAN'T STUFF YOURSELF ANYMORE EATING ALL THE TURKEY AND THINKING THAT YOU'LL SAVE ROOM FOR DESERT BUT YOU END UP STUFFING YOURSELF SO MUCH THERE'S NO MORE ROOM FOR DESERT. AND EVEN SO, YOU EAT DESERT!

SO GO STUFF YOURSELF YOU TURKEY!

AND THEN WE ALL REGRET IT LATER.

Have a great thanksgiving!

Glenn

It's an early Christmas!

2005-11-22T06:28:00.000-08:00

Cool wife. Hot wife. Awesome wife. I LOVE MY WIFE!

Look what I came home and got as an early present. A Palm Treo 650!

Awesome!

And that’s me taken with the camera phone.

Now I have something to play with on my FIVE DAY WEEKEND!

Other than that, I don’t have much to say today. I’m feeling a little blah. The phone is perkin’ me up though.

I want to spend the WHOLE day watching movies. Older ones. But not so old. Rewatching them. Nothing new. I’m in a Cameron Crowe, John Hughes kinda mood. I’d like to sit back and watch Almost Famous, Say Anything, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller, Home Alone, Planes Trains and Automobiles. Stuff like that there.

That would be a great day!

It takes place in New York but it definitely is not ‘Manhattan’!

2005-11-21T06:20:00.000-08:00

Donna and I were able to go out and see a movie. We should have gone out for some drinks and dinner instead.

Prime

Want to read how I felt, someone already wrote a review about how I felt. Read it here: 'Prime' makes audiences work too hard for the humor by Eleanor Ringerl Gillespie This review nails it on the head completely. If I were to review Prime it would be to reiterate the exact same things mentioned in the review.

Go see it if you want a nap. I’m looking forward to ‘Having Fun With Dick And Jane’.

The highlight of the night was spending time with my wife. ALONE! :)

Feeling saucy...

2005-11-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

And I love it. Just five more days till Thanksgiving! I can't wait. I love Thanksgiving.

I just got back from working out and want to eat something juicy. You know, a nice juicy steak! But that's not good. Everytime I work out I want to eat a steak. What's up with that?

I think those bloody commercials, no pun intended, that play overhead while I run on the treadmill should be banned from the gym. They got those nice juicy steaks grilling in your face it looks so delicious you can smell it from the tv!

UGH!

I got home and thought Gordeon the Goldfish was dead. He was just sitting there, staring at nothing. I moved, it didn't flinch. I waved my hand over the bowl, he didn't flinch. Do goldfish sleep with their eyes open? I was all freakin' out. All that dedication and work just to die out of the blue.

But then he moved.

And all is well.

And now he's darting around like a goldfish is supposed to do.

I was worried because I accidentally gave him too much food this morning. He didn't even finish it.

Well... you wouldn't believe what time I went to bed last night. 9:00! WOW! I managed to force my open to notice the Lakers got beat by the Clippers. I predicted a 5 point victory. The Clips won by 6.

Now I predict an upset at the USC game today. I bet Fresno will cover the points for sure but I do think maybe there's a big chance Fresno will get the win outright. Sue me for being optimistic!

Did you notice I added a reading list on the right hand column of my blog? If you want to, pick up some of those books and be on track with what I'm reading. Maybe we could discuss sometime.

And that's that. It is what it are. What it be like and all that shtuff right there.

According to my doctor…

2005-11-18T06:30:00.000-08:00

I have a clean bill of health and feels my headache was just a severe migraine. He looked at the CAT scan and went over the possibilities with me and told me it was a very slight chance of a possible brain aneurysm. I figure, hey, I’m not dead so he’s probably right.

When going over my history he asked if I had asthma as a kid. Yes. He asked if it was cured. And being just educated on the whole asthma thing I had to say it with attitude… IT'S NEVER CURED!. Come on doc! You can’t be that ignorant when talking to an asthmatic! You should know that stuff.

Other than small talk about this that and some other thing, I realized he was a cool doctor and wouldn’t mind seeing him instead of the other doc at that office. Unfortunately I didn’t score any Viagra, but wait till next month!

Thanks for everyone’s calls and emails and replies to my health issues. You may now be officially unconcerned of the brain health of Glenn! Until the next migraine that is.

What else is going on?

This will be quick.

Gordon the Goldfish is still alive and well and growing big.

Bella’s rash is gone. Still a little visible ‘polka dots’ as she calls em.

I pulled a spitball sized glob of Kleenex out of Jake’s ear with a tweezer the other night. It was gooey, had a little bright red blod and ear wax on it. YUCK! He was sticking Kleenex in his ear to get rid of fluid that was dripping out. Eventually it got torn off and kept getting deeper. This was soaking up the drops we put in therefore the drops did not work. He got a lecture from me about putting things in his ear. He is now on antibiotics for a bad ear infection.

Thanksgiving is 6 days away. I can’t wait.

The Lakers can’t win unless Kobe scores 30+ points per game. They did beat one of the worst teams in the NBA the other night and everyone is talking about how great they are. Go CLIPPERS!

Donna lost her first NICU baby the other day. Sad to lose a baby.

Jacob scored TWO LINES for his “Holiday” concert!!! I’m nervous.

Jessica is coming on the 17th. I’m so excited!

Dale is in Tennessee doing some video work.

My cousin James needs to have more of what we talked about.

And that’s it in the world of me.

The weekend is just moments away.

Down where this ugly man seeks his sustenance...

2005-11-17T06:22:00.000-08:00

In the mid 80s I came across a group called “Siouxsie and the Banshees”. And a song they sang really got to me for some reason. The images, the emotion, and for some reason the inspiration I got from blasting this song in my ears was fantastical. It took me to far off places. I just closed my eyes and to be honest, I didn’t like coming back to reality. Therefore the repeat of this song over and over and over on my Walkman. This overload of loud music could contribute to my bad hearing problems. It’s not the greatest song in the world. But then again… maybe it is. I can’t explain it.

“The Killing Jar” by Siouxsie and the Banshees
Down where this ugly man
Seeks his sustenance
Down in the blue, midnight flare
A glass hand cuts through the water
Scything into his twisted roots
Then from his eyes
Spring fireflies
Breathing life
Into a roaring disguise
Needles and sins, sins and needles
He's gasping for air
In the wishing well
Dust to rust, ashes to gashes
Hand around the killing jar
A soft hoodwink of shadow
The size of make-believe
Punches through his spike of rage
A glass hand cuts through the water
Snuffing out the magic fury
Then from inside
Bolt lightning cries
Swiftly crushed
The final, muffled sighs
Needles and sins, sins and needles
He's gasping for air
In the wishing well
Dust to rust, ashes to gashes
Hand around the killing jar

And on to another new song that I totally like. I might just love it. Which means I’ll have to go to Target to purchase their new CD. This is Nickelback’s “Photograph.” It’s the perfect intro song for my ‘look back at a moment in my personal wonder year’s script. I should post that script. If ya wanna spend ten minutes reading it, let me know.

“Photograph” by Nickelback
Look at this photograph
Everytime I do it makes me laugh
How did our eyes get so red
And what the hell is on Joey's head

And this is where I grew up
I think the present owner fixed it up
I never knew we'd ever went without
The second floor is hard for sneaking out

And this is where I went to school
Most of the time had better things to do
Criminal record says I broke in twice
I must have done it half a dozen times

I wonder if It's too late
Should i go back and try to graduate
Life's better now then it was back then
If I was them I wouldn't let me in

Oh oh oh
Oh god I

Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

Remember the old arcade
Blew every dollar that we ever made
The cops hated us hangin' out
They say somebody went and burned it down

We used to listen to the radio
And sing along with every song we know
We said someday we'd find out how it feels
To sing to more than just the steering wheel

Kim's the first girl I kissed
I was so nervous that I nearly missed
She's had a couple of kids since then
I haven't seen her since god knows when

Oh oh oh
Oh god I

Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

I miss that town
I miss the faces
You can't erase
You can't replace it
I miss it now
I can't believe it

So hard to stay
Too hard to leave it

If I could I relive those days
I know the one thing that would never change

Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

Look at this photograph
Everytime I do it makes me laugh
Everytime I do it makes me

Sitting on my ass watching the world go round and round.

2005-11-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

Yeah… I’m in that mood again. So watch yourself. Don’t get on my case, don’t cross my path, don’t honk, don’t… don’t… don’t even talk to me.

I’m lacking motivation. Morale. Inspiration. I don’t want to work out for fear of dying. I don’t want to play paintball because I don’t want to run around and get tired. I don’t want to wake up because I’ll have to go to work.

I was thinking about writing a will. You know… just in case. This whole head trauma thing has put me on edge. Well, not so much on edge, but on something weird. Worried. Is being worried on edge? But what’s to worry? The only thing is Jake and Bella. I just don’t want them to forget about me.

WHAT THE HELL AM I TALKING ABOUT? NOTHING’S GOING TO HAPPEN.

I’ll wait a week before I work out again. My neck hurts. My head still has that lingering headache. Maybe it’s psychological? Maybe its not. Maybe there’s a slow leak in my brain. Can Donna sue the ER for not taking the extra step of an MRI given the fact that I had a contusion of some sort if I plop down dead?

WHAT THE HELL AM I TALKING ABOUT?!? I NEED TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT.

ROUGH SEX.

My buddy told me he had sex with this girl who wanted to be spanked. He tried it. She liked it. He didn’t. WHAT’S WRONG WITH HIM?

WHAT THE HELL AM I TALKING ABOUT?!?? CHANGE THE SUBJECT.

I’m eating two apples a day. Supposedly if you eat more healthy snacks during the day you can lose weight better. I need to eat a lighter dinner though. And work out more. I was going to start working out at 5AM. But man, I can’t get up at 4:30. It’s too damn hard.

Last night I worked till 6:30. I was at the office for 11 ½ hours. Then drove an hour home in bumper to bumper traffic. By 7:30 I was wiped out. I waited for Donna to get home, we ate some dinner provided by my awesome sister, and then we watched My Name Is Earl. Funny ass show in my opinion. But my favorite show now is Two and a half Men. This week’s episode was hilarious.

Jake is sick. Fever. Earache. I asked him if he felt sick at school. He said ‘yes’. I asked him if he played. He said ‘yes’. I asked him why he played if he felt sick. He said ‘because it was only soccer. You just stand there and kick the ball’. I was like… ‘oh’. Made sense to me.

Bella didn’t want to hug me this morning. I said, ‘okay I’ll go to Kena’s house and hug her’. She said, ‘okay bye’.

Earlier she wanted her bottle. It was like 5:00 AM. I struggled out of bed and as I walked out through the door she said, “I luv you papa.” I made sure her milk was nice and warm.

I am looking forward to my favorite time of the year. THANKSGIVING. Where I get to eat turkey. But its never ever enough. I have to make my own turkey. My very own twenty pounder. And just eat, eat, eat. I like to eat. I’ll work out after November and gear up for Chirstmas.

I’ve been sitting on some movies from Netflix… But I’ll get to them. Here they are.

I just haven’t been in any kind of mood to sit through a movie lately. I want something fast, quick and over with. Like a sitcom or hour show. I guess it’s because I can get through a sitcom without having to pause and continue on some other night. When I watch a movie usually its late, I’m tired, I get thirty minutes in because that’s my attention span lately, and then I have to turn it off. Then I have to get back into it some other time. Sometimes I don’t get the full effect of the movie and I lose a lot of that momentum the first thirty minutes is supposed to give you. So although movies could be great, I think they’re a little blah. The loss of information due to the wait time in between my daily intermission is just that. Loss of information pertinent to the telling of a good story.

But I’ll get to the above.

I believe I’m supposed to take next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off for the Holidays. I’m totally on board with that scenario. So it’s possible I can fit in a movie here and there.

What’s next on my Netflix queue you may ask? Well, here’s the next 20.

1 - Moonlight Mile
2 - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
3 - Anger Management
4 - Y Tu Mama Tambien
5 - The Twilight Samurai
6 - Monster
7 - Ringu
8 - The Manchurian Candidate
9 - Chinatown
10 - The Longest Yard
11 - Meet the Fockers
12 - Good Boy!
13 - Being Julia
14 - Saw
15 - Ikiru
16 - Ray
17 - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
18 - Spider-Man: Season 1: Disc 1
19 - Spider-Man: Season 1: Disc 2
20 - X-Men: Evolution: Season 1: Vol. 1

Yuck. I need some recommendations. That list sucks big time.

To end this unmotivated rambling of an entry, here’s some pictures from a while back that I found and that I love.

Jake ready to go tobogganing.

Bella in the snow for the first time. She didn’t like it.

Bella was shaking her head in this picture because she saw me do it earlier to get a motion effect. So when Jessica took her picture, she’d always shake her head and she had blurry shots.

And that’s it…

And you know my saying… IT IS WHAT IT ARE.

Goodbye now.

Rough Sex

2005-11-15T06:13:00.000-08:00

I knew I’d catch your attention!!!

Here’s a health update…

Jake has an ear infection. Two antibiotic drops in his ears twice a day. His asthma flared up as well yesterday.
But that’s all good and controlled and nothing really to worry about. We hope.

Then there’s me.

I went to the Urgent Care clinic yesterday. The doctor immediately sent me to the Emergency Room as he was concerned for my health and questioned my reasoning for not going to the ER right away. So I went.

I was in ER for most of the afternoon and into the night. I had a CAT Scan done and laid in bed to wait for the results. The place was packed. The Tech said that it was good I brought a book, “SIDEWAYS”, because I’d be waiting a long time. I wanted to be home for Monday Night Football and he said there was a TV in my ‘room’. He propped it up for me and life was good.

I say ‘room’ because its not much of one. Its just a space with a bed with three curtains to separate other ‘rooms’ and the busy hallway. But it was my ‘room’ and it was nice and dark and I had a TV and a book. What more could I ask for.

Being alone made me think about things. Some serious, some trivial. Like, what if I died. What would Jake think. Would Bella remember me? At least Donna knew how to pay bills, was working and could survive because she’s a survivor. I was more worried about what life would be like for Jake. Then I thought about silly things like calling Dale and tell him to give my paintball marker to Jake and to take him to play once he gets old enough. And then I figured thinking about such things would do no good. So I forced myself to stop.

Then there were the trivial thoughts that made me smile. Like how it was so great that I had time to read a book without interruption. I thought about how much better it was to be in the ER awaiting my fate versus sitting at work awaiting my fate. Reading “Sideways” made me want to go out and have a bottle of Pinot paired with a chicken dinner of some sort.

And then I realized I was thinking, reading and watching the news all at the same time. I had read a page about three times before comprehending what I was reading. And it all made sense - the multi-tasking without comprehension - because I was on this wonderful trip induced by a wonderful pill called “Vicodin”.

Please note:

“Vicodin can be habit-forming. If you take this drug over a long period of time, you can become mentally and physically dependent on it, and you may find the drug no longer works for you at the prescribed dosage.”

They also gave me a pill so I wouldn’t throw up and some Benadryl. Which was good because I think the Vicodin made me Dizzy, light-headed and nauseous.

I was LOOPY.

So I put down my book and tried to concentrate on the TV as Monday Night Football was about to start.

The next thing I know, Donna is there and the nurse is telling us we could go. I wobbled to the car and told Donna I was craving Chicken and Wine. She said Chicken was okay so we went to Zankou Chicken and brought home some food.

I remember someone on the Cowboys intercepting a pass.

I remember seeing someone attempt to kick a field goal and was short.

I remember the Cowboys won a very dramatic game.

I picked the Cowboys.

And then I was in bed.

Oh… the diagnosis…

I have a head contusion. Which bugs me. How did I get it? All I could think about was the rough sex I had on Saturday night. JUST KIDDING. But seriously, I think It could have come from carrying these tables over my head (and on my head) during the yardsale on Saturday. They were quite heavy. But other than that, I have no clue of how I could get a cerebral contusion.

I need an MRI but the ER won’t do it. So now I have to go to my PCP and ask him to get it approved or something.

That’ll take forever. Which is why we decided to go with a PPO plan with Donna’s health insurance. After this incident we figured its safer to go with PPO. The only problem is that we now are paying for two plans from our employer. Mine (an HMO) and hers (a PPO). Which is fine I guess. At least for one year. Better to be safe.

Now its my quest to get the MRI.

This is me on Vicodin.

The Foot Fetish Movie of 1950...

2005-11-15T06:08:00.000-08:00

Cinderella
Rating: 7/10

Should I let my daughter watch all these Disney movies? Bella is quote ‘princessy’ already. Should I let her have these fantasies of being rescued by a prince someday? I’m a little concerned. Maybe I should get her in front of Aliens or Thelma & Louise or something.

There’s not much to say about Cinderella except its cute. And fun. And a wonderful fantasy for girls who love shoes and want to be rescued by a prince. And Bella loves shoes. I’m convinced the writer(s) had a foot fetish. The last couple of scenes were soooo foot fetishy it was kinda gross.

Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith
Rating: 7/10

I think I reviewed this movie before. By far the best of the first three new Star Wars films. Entertaining enough for me to ignore all the stupid things that stand out in Episodes I & II. Yet there are those moments when I’m watching this movie thinking about how stupid some situations, events and scenes were. I can make a list. But again, the action, the story line (finally) was worthy of attention and actual enjoyment. Really… the first two movies didn’t need to be made. Give me Episode III and I’ll be fine going into IV, V & VI!

Home from work...

2005-11-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

I left work to come home.

There's fluid coming out of Jacob's ear. I need to take him to the doctor.

And... there's still a slight pain in my head so I have to see a doctor today too. Hopefully I can get an appointment.

I figure if it were a tumor I'd be dead already. If I go into brain surgery, that's where I'll be for a while. LOL. Donna is worried. I'm not really. I feel okay. It's just my head that hurts a little.

I'm not trying to worry anyone. I'm just making light of the situation. Can't be serious you know. Or else I'd be mispeling everuthing i wroting.

You know my saying... It is what it are...

Brain Explosion

2005-11-14T05:44:00.000-08:00

It felt like something had burst in my brain. And I don’t mean this as a metaphor to a great idea. I mean this in the literal sense. The physical sense. The holy shit, what the hell just blew up in my head sense! I won’t tell you what I was doing at the time but I tensed up, I grabbed my head and I went down in pain. I couldn’t find any pressure points to release the excruciating pain as I grabbed, pressed and dug my knuckles into my temples, back of my neck and eye sockets. Light from the TV actually made things worse, I need complete blackness and silence. I don’t know how long it took but the pain finally became tolerable and I told Donna the ER was not necessary.

All night I kept testing my vision, testing to see if I could move my legs and arms and hear from both ears. All night the tiny hint of a night light would be too much light. Every little sound was deafening. Every bit of thought was of my brain exploding as I slept.

The next morning it was like the lingering effect of a migraine. Maybe that’s all it was. The worst migraine of my life. Hopefully nothing blew up. Hopefully my brain is ok. Hopefully I’ll live.

My eyes are off though. I can’t focus as well as normal. I definitely need to see a doctor.

And still, today, Monday morning, my head still has that lingering pain. It didn’t help that I got up at 4:00 AM because Jake kept waking me up complaining about something or another. That’s the last time he’s having chocolate before going to bed.

Through the night I was testing my brain, seeing if I could remember things from the past and how far I could remember. So I went through my early years. My Wonder Years starting at five years old. I pulled at least one memory from each grade beginning with Kindergarten.

Here’s what I got.

Kindergarten – I remember walking up the school with my mom and crying. I was embarrassed to have my pillow with me and told my mom to hide it before we got to class. I remember Marcel, Tina and Otto in my class.

1st Grade – Miss McDonald’s class. She was really old and really nice. And I remember seeing Roger in class. He looked so confident. As if he was a seasoned veteran of 1st grade. We met the summer right before school started at the swimming pool. It was really cool to see him there.

2nd Grade – Miss Bruce’s class. The difference between being a 1st grader and 2nd grader was huge. I felt like Roger looked in 1st grade. Like a season vet of grade school. I loved 2nd grade. We went to San Clemente Beach on the train. President Nixon was supposed to meet with us at his home but he was sick. We gave his security our letters we wrote to him. That was my first field trip.

3rd Grade – I hate 3rd Grade and Mrs. Hawks. She was the meanest teacher ever. Willie Manipol and I made up a way to communicate during class by tapping our pencils on our desks. For every 1 tap, an A. 2 taps, a B. We’d tap and tap and tap when we could and communicated from across the room.

4th Grade – Mrs. Carl’s class. She was awesome. I was so glad I was in her class versus the other 4th Grade class because from what I heard, the other teacher was MEAN! Yes, with capital letters! I was the fastest times table kid in class!

5th Grade – Miss Bishoff. This is the first teacher I fell in love with. I could have married her and was this close to asking her. It was also the year of romantic letters and the hamster eating incident I’ve referred to in previous posts. That was a wonderful year.

6th Grade – Mr. Conner’s Class. The coolest teacher to have in grade school. A radio DJ at night and a 6th grade teacher by day. This was also the year of my very first kiss. Brenda Eaton, Outdoor school, in the snow. We snuck out of dinner mess hall and sat outside. It just started to snow and we scooted closer together. We kissed. It was awesome. I wrote about it several years ago in a short story.

7th Grade – My first year in Junior High and my first French Kiss! AND… my first broken heart. I wrote about it in a short called, “Chocolate Shake and Fries”.

8th Grade – My last year in Junior High. I think I started hating school at 8th grade. I think about it now and it was the math and the English that I hated so much. It’s weird since all I do now is math and all I want to do is write… in English. LOL. Maybe I felt all that stuff held me back. Math was logical, of course, but maybe I was ready for something harder. Something where I needed to discover and present versus learn and be tested on. I wanted to put things to the test versus get tested on things. In English, I didn’t want to write by rules, I just wanted to write. Thank goodness for spell check nowadays.

And that’s my years prior to high school.

I think my memory is fine.

It’s my eyes that are going.

Hope today is a better day.

I hate being resourceful!

2005-11-11T08:14:00.000-08:00

We have no water in the house. We had to shut it off last night due to a broken pipe coming from the water heater. It sucks. We boiled some water and have enough to get us through brushing teeth and some hand washing, other than that, we’re off to my sister’s house for showers and things.

I took today off because Jake is off of school due to Veteran’s Day. I didn’t know it would be a plumber filled day. So much for a day off.

Isabella has a serious rash. But it’s only on her stomach and chest. We thought it was chicken pox but I was suspect so I took her to the doctor. The doctor didn’t even know what it was. She had to have the other doctor look at it as well. They came to some conclusion that it’s a bacterial skin rash. She’s on antibiotics – again!

Here’s some pictures of it.

And close up:

Anybody know what this is? The doctors sure aren’t sure.

And here’s some pictures of Jake and Colby during “Flag Day”.

Jake always looking worried.

Colby got to hold the flag!

Elementary school gathering. See Jake in the background?

“It is what it are.” - that’s my motto!

2005-11-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

My motto has nothing to do with this entry today. It’s just one of those rainy days where you should be home, in bed, and watching a movie or reading a book.

It’s raining. It’s dark. It’s moody. It’s Thursday. And this song comes on the radio and you feel the groove, you feel the mood.

Get it in your iPod and feel the groove, get in the mood and disappear to another place as this song makes you do.

SUPERTRAMP’S “GOODBYE STRANGER”

It was an early morning yesterday
I was up before the dawn
And I really have enjoyed my stay
But I must be moving on

Like a king without a castle
Like a queen without a throne
I'm an early morning lover
And I must be moving on

Now I believe in what you say
Is the undisputed truth
But I have to have things my own way
To keep me in my youth

Like a ship without an achor
Like a slave without a chain
Just the thought of those sweet ladies
Sends a shiver through my veins

And I will go on shining
Shining like brand new
I'll never look behind me
My troubles will be few

Goodbye strange it's been nice
Hope you find your paradise
Tried to see your point of view
Hope your dreams will all come true
Goodbye Mary, Goodbye Jane
Will we ever meet again
Feel no sorrow, feel no shame
Come tomorrow, feel no pain

Now some they do and some they don't
And some you just can't tell
And some they will and some they won't
With some it's just as well

You can laugh at my behavior
That'll never bother me
Say the devil is my savior
But I don't pay no heed

And I will go on shining
Shining like brand new
I'll never look behind me
My troubles will be few
Goodbye stranger it's been nice [etc..]

Coffee and alcohol - the ingredients of a ^@@^ writer.

2005-11-09T06:06:00.000-08:00

Notice I didn’t describe writer as “GOOD” or “GREAT” or “POOR” or “HORRIBLE”? Just… ‘writer’. Yeah well… its true. How can you be a writer if you don’t drink coffee or alcohol? Okay you can write. But the inspiration will be something other than ‘chemically induced ramblings’. And that’s the, er, best kind. Isn't it?

Nevermind.

The combination of coffee and alcohol is like pen and paper. Or a dictionary and a thesaurus. Or Ren & Stimpy. Or The Captain and Tennille. Or Prince and the Revolution. Shaq and Kobe. Birds and the bees. Here nor there. 123 and ABC!!! Without it there’s nothing.

And when there’s no coffee maker there’s no coffee. And our coffee maker broke. We were on loaner coffee maker mode. We were on wait in line at 6:30 AM to get coffee before work mode. We were at our wits end mode.

So we purchased another one from Starbucks.

Starbucks Barista® Thermal Coffee Press

Starbucks recommended method of brewing highlights coffee’s full, rich taste. Fine mesh filter lets coffee retain the precious oils that paper filters absorb. Stainless steel, double walled insulation keeps coffee fresh and hot for up to two hours. Makes 32 fl oz (946mL) of delicious coffee.

Now all I have to do is fix my alcohol still and I’ll be back on track.

Yes, life will be back on track but unfortunately, Shaq’s still gone and the "The Captain and Tennille" reference really dated me.

NOTE: GORDON THE GOLDFISH IS STILL ALIVE!!!

Some movies I got stuck watching this week...

2005-11-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

They were all on HBO. You know, you're channel surfing, nothing great is on, and even if you don't want to, you are caught up and end up watching a movie...

So here's three quick reviews.

LA Confidential
Rating: 9/10

I think this was considered one of my top ten favorite movies of all time at one time or another. That list always changes and if its going to change again, add this to the list. This movie could have come across as ‘campy’. The dialogue was fit for the times. Guy Pearce seemed very comic bookish to me. And the voice over editorial commentary by Danny Devito was a little corny. But it all worked. Stylistically it worked, tone, everything. Kevin Spacey’s character was my favorite of the three main cops. I wanted more of Kevin Spacey and they totally pulled a surprise on us by killing him off - one of the main and more dynamic characters of the movie. Each character had depth and goals and interior conflicts that they were desperate to resolve or redeem. Kim Basinger was beautiful but I felt she looked a little aged in this movie. But an aged Kim Basinger is still beautiful don’t get me wrong.

Great rental if you’re in need of one!

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotloss Mind
Rating: 10/10

INT. JOEL'S APARTMENT - DAY

It's raining out. Joel is reading, slouched in a chair. He
looks over at Clementine, stretched out on her belly in her
underwear. She's reading, too.

                VOICE-OVER
        She's so sexy.

                JOEL
        I loved you on this day. I love this
        memory. The rain. Us just hanging.

Clementine looks over at him, smiles. Her brow furrows in
thought.

                CLEMENTINE
        What if you hide me?

                JOEL
        What do you mean?

                CLEMENTINE
        (formulating)
        Well... if they're looking for me in
        memories I'm in, what if you take me to a
        memory I'm not in?
        (proud)
        And we can hide there till morning.

Joel ponders this. The scene and Clementine are beginning to
dissolve. Joel grabs Clementine's hand. She giggles with
glee. He pulls her out of the scene as it degrades.

                JOEL
        Where? Where? Where?

He drags her through the landscape of already decayed
memories and turns off into: READ IT HERE

Could there be a more perfect movie? This is definitely one of my top ten favorites of all time. Or at least it should be. I felt it was a flawless movie in a movie that could well be filled with a ton of flaws. The desperation of Jim Carrey’s character was nightmarish. It was so real. His struggles seemed so searing I felt the pain the longing. When he pleaded ‘please let me just have this one memory!’ it was as if I had the same feelings as I was forced to escape a dream.

Titanic

I hated this movie because of Billy Zane’s character was so plastic so irritatingly emotionless. I mean, every scene his face was the same. If he was angry, he was smiling. If he was being sinister he still had that stupid smile on his face. If he was scared he still had that smile. If he was trying to act like a good Samaritan he still had that stupid smile on his stupid face. It just pisses me off.

I hated this movie because the dialogue was so bad it made me want to throw up. Especially the incredible amount of times Leonardo said “Rose” as they tried to escape stupid Billy Zane and the water that flooded the ship. Run Rose. Come on Rose. Let’s go Rose. Rose. Rose. Rose! Ugh.

I hated this movie because it was such a blatant attempt to make EVERYONE cry at the end when they really didn’t need to try that hard to do it.

I hated this movie because I could not, for the life of me, buy the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet fell in love.

I hated this movie because it was the sappest love story ever told.

That being said…

I loved this movie because its got to be ONE of the most perfect love stories ever told.

Blech. Rating: 8/10. Yes, I give it an 8.

A long weekend

2005-11-07T06:22:00.000-08:00

And I mean that in the exhaustive sense versus the three day sense.

On Saturday morning after I worked out we went to IHOP because I was craving steak and eggs. The reason… while on the stair-master, the televisions were on and all the commercials kept advertising different restaurants that featured prime ribs, steaks, grilling, etc. It was torture to watch. Especially while working out. Of course coming out of the gym I was craving steak. IHOP isn’t the best place for such cravings, but it met the needs of others in the family. You know, chocolate pancakes, Harvest Grain and Nut pancakes and of course mine… t-bone steak and eggs. It was not great but was very very satisfying. Especially with a side of pancakes! Yum. I just had to work out harder on Sunday morning.

After breakfast it was suddenly noon and I had to rush to my haircut. Then I had to rush back home in order to make our way down to Newport Beach for a birthday party. There was a cat in the person’s home which made the night ‘longer’ as I had to deal with allergies and asthma. But better me than Jake who seemed to get through it without a problem. We did have to call in a prescription down there to get our inhaler. This really saved my life but my allergies kicked in and we had to leave early. Having red itchy eyes and sniffling made the hour drive home even ‘longer’… but by the time we got in the house I was almost over it. I was exhausted.

On Sunday morning Donna and I got to work out together as my mom watched the kids. I proved to her that my cravings for steak was founded as she saw for herself the commercials on the TV.

When we got home we got showered, dressed and packed the kids into the car to go to another birthday party. This one in Montclair. About 45 minutes. This place was some place called John’s Incredible Pizza Company. It’s a huge place for kids parties with games and rides and all you can eat food. It was crazy fun for kids and crazy fun for some adults as well. Jake and I played video games, we bowled, we rode rides, it was a lot of fun!

By the time we got home the kids were tired, I was tired, Donna was tired so we all went down for an hour nap.

When we woke up we went to see Chicken Little. We caught the last matinee at 4:40. I was shocked that matinee prices were $8.00!!! That use to be the general admission prices. Now its matinee? Talk about gas prices… BRING DOWN THE MOVIE TICKET PRICES PLEASE!

Ever since I was a kid I liked Chicken Little. He’d show up in one short cartoon on Sunday mornings walking around telling people the sky was falling. I never saw him in any other cartoon except that one. 30 years later, he’s a star of a movie!

Chicken Little
My Rating: 8/10

I haven’t laughed this much in a movie theater in a long time. The comedy level totally outshines other really funny Disney Animated movies like Monster’s Inc. and Finding Nemo. I really, really liked this movie. The story… eh… not great and not as strong as the other Disney Movies of late (Toy Story 1 & 2, Monster’s Inc., Finding Nemo) but characters, the comedy and what seemed like non-stop action really made it work. Here’s a good example of great writing but a weak story.

The comedic timing of Zach Braff and Joan Cusack was perfect. And of course Garry Marshall was his usual funny self. I recommend this movie for the whole family.

Even Bella liked it!

Then we had In & Out for Dinner, I watched the end of the Sunday Night Football Game, watched a few shows then finally to bed to watch “Gray’s Anatomy.”

See… A LONG WEEKEND!

T.S.I.F.!!!

2005-11-04T06:21:00.000-08:00

Thank Someone Its Friday.

That was politically correct wasn’t it?

This whole PC thing is so stupid. Really. First, DON’T BE AN IGNORANT ASS. And if so, then you can throw the whole PC thing out the window. It’s all so stupid and if we are were responsible enough to NOT be ignorant, then there you go.

I mean, how many times have I been referred to as Asian? Doesn’t bother me until you call me a rice patty or fish eater or something derogatory. I mean, call me Oriental if you want. I’ll just look at you and think, what an ignorant ass. Because the correct description is Pacific Islander and not Asian. But its all good. I mean I even refer to myself as Asian.

But when you start off with, “go back home ‘Jap’” is when something is going to happen.

Which reminds me of New Years Eve 1989.

I’ll preface this by stating I’ve got into only two street fights in my life. I’ve gotten to SEVERAL hockey fights in my time and a lot of them were because I was called a derogatory racist name like "Rice Patty" or "Fish Eater" or something stupid like that. The other hockey fights were just good old hockey related fights. Hence my nickname, “Razor” for the fighter Donovan “Razor” Ruddock who was scheduled to fight Mike Tyson for the first time in 1991. My buddy Rich ("Taz", "Char") Tuszynski, aka 'my hockey body guard', gave me that nickname. (Hi "Taz!") That's a Polock and a Flip getting into hockey fights in the Valley. LOL

Okay, back to New Years Eve 1989

I was out and about at the local 7-11 when two guys gave me this horrible look. When I came out of the store the F-bombs started flying. They were obviously drunk. And they were throwing racist remarks in my face. I proceeded to my car and was on the verge of getting in when I thought to myself, “I’m going to jail tonight.”

Instead of getting in I stood there as the guy approached me and asked, “What you gonna do slant eyes?”

I wasn’t so irritated that he was a fricken racist… I was more irritated that he couldn’t throw the right race remark at me. What an idiot right?

I held up my hands as if to say, ‘nothing’ but he kept on coming. And at this point I felt threatened and my adrenaline pumped through my veins and when he was about to push me he leaned right into a front kick that lifted him off the ground, several feet back and finally flat on his back on the ground.

The other guy went, “OHHH SHIT!!!” and kinda laughed at his stupid friend keeled over in front of the 7-11.

“OHHH SHIT!!!” he kept repeating as he checked on his drunk friend.

I shook my head, got in my car and drove away.

Is it politically correct to call that guy a PUNK ASS MOTHER FUCKER?

And so it goes. And I did not go to jail that night.

I would never ever ever do that today. Especially having kids. I’ve even backed out of many hockey fights after Jake was born. Weird huh?

I have no point to this entry.

Have a good weekend.

No SuDoku puzzle too hard to solve!

2005-11-03T06:25:00.000-08:00

That’s my philosophy. Unless its really really REALLY HARD!

I'm addicted to SuDoku. Yes, I am. Is there a SuDoku Anonymous?

The LA Times has to post a better challenge. I did today’s in less than 10 minutes this morning. Too easy. And they gave it a 5 star difficulty rating.

Is anybody else addicted to SuDoku? I got Donna to try a puzzle last night and she sat there for an hour. I think she’s hooked.

Here’s today’s LA Times puzzle:

Try it. It’s fun.

For instructions go here:
www.sudoku.com

Be careful. You may get addicted. But I give you permission.

If loving SuDoku is so wrong, I don't want to be right.

Two movie reviews and the Trick or Treaters of 2005

2005-11-01T06:18:00.000-08:00

Before Sunset
Rating: 5/10

Before Sunrise, the prequel to this movie, was about two characters with completely unrealistic and forced dialogue in order to fill screen time before eventually get to the hook. The hook… to tell each other to meet back at the same place one year later. Yeah, the whole movie led to this. It should have started with the hook. And if Ethan Hawke was anywhere near nice (because he was kinda a stuck up jerk) this movie would have some appeal. Other than that, it was two talking heads with very very unrealistic dialogue. Hawke and Delpy didn’t pull it off. But it would be tough to do unless you’re a great actor.

Before Sunset was about the same… except the two characters meet not 1 year later, but 9. This time there was NO HOOK except that this movie was the hook. Don’t ever write a movie like this. The one saving grace for this movie is two seasoned actors, Hawke and Delpy who were actually pleasant to watch and actually pulled it off for me. They did a good job keeping me there to see what happens. But nothing happens. NOTHING! Again, two talking heads walking around Paris talking about ‘the past’. There was NO CONFLICT for thirty minutes of the film. And just when the characters showed some sort of depth and subtext, the credts rolled and I felt like I wasted my time again.

I don’t have much more to say about this movie except, if you want to watch two talking heads walk and talk instead of sit and talk at a coffee shop, then this movie is for you. The story happens in between the last time they met and before this movie started. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see that part. We have to see this.

Million Dollar Baby
Rating: 8/10

Great performances from a darn good movie. I really didn’t want the movie to go where it went and had no idea it was going to end this way. I never read any reviews or spoilers so I really didn’t know much about this movie other than the performances were great. And yes, they were. I can’t really say it was predictable, but it was. And I wonder if this movie would have been a big hit without the last few lines of Morgan Freeman where it is revealed he is telling the story to Frankie’s daughter. To me, that was the kicker that topped off the great performance because it gave this movie more purpose and life versus just a story about a trainer and his boxer and the tragic relationship they had. I might be contradicting myself by saying, I really liked this movie but I was a little disappointed in it. Still… an 8/10 rating.

And here are the “Trick or Treaters” of 2005.

Darth Vader and the Fairy Princess.

Darth Vader Voice: “Bella, I am your brother…”

Last night was fun. It was actually the first 'real' trick or treat night we had with the kids. We went to this neighborhood where tons of people flocked to. Tons of trick or treaters crowded the streets as they moved from house to house asking for candy. It was safe, it was fun, it was warm... it was the perfect night for kids to go safely from house to house.

I was exhausted. The kids were tired. The bags were heavy with candy and I was ready to sleep.

It was a pretty good Halloween 2005. Unfortunately we have TONS of candy left because we didn't hand much out.

I can't wait till next year.

Pumpkins and Halloween Movies

2005-10-31T06:21:00.000-08:00

Every year we gather at my sister's house to carve pumpkins and eat some desert. Here's what we did last night.

The pumpkins of Halloween 2005

And the pumpkin carvers.

Dale, Dasie, Lori, Kena (baby), Liza, Bella (baby), Glenn, Jake, Chip, Colby, Steve.

The Great Pumpkin
Rating 8/10

I played this Charlie Brown movie for the kids. One of my favorite CB episodes. Of course my favorite is yet to come which I’ll play in coming months. A Charlie Brown Christmas and Be My Valentine Charlie Brown. These episodes or movies never gets old for me. I cringed at the language though. They say “stupid” a lot in Charlie Brown. And my kids always have to point that out. But still another one of those childhood memories that I cherish and shared with my kids.

Mad Monster Party
Rating 7 out of 10

What a blast from the past!

An oldie. One of my favorite movies to ‘catch’ while growing up. I ALWAYS wanted this to come on TV (this is before the data of VCRs mind you) so that I can watch it. It was one of those special occasions during the holidays that Mad Monster Party would chow up on a Sunday afternoon. I’d sit there captivated by the live action of these characters.

I gave this movie an edge by telling my kids there were monsters like werewolves and zombies. We then turned out the lights and watched it in bed. This kept them a little timid despite the whole corniness of the movie, which motivated them to watch it and wait for something really scary. And nothing really scary happened. Believe me, it is absolutely corny, campy and nearly unbearable. BUT, it’s such a big part of my childhood that I still rate it quite high on my list of favorites. The kids enjoyed it but got distracted as they watched it but they did enjoy the wide range of ‘monsters’ like the Invisible Man, Dracula, Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde, etc.

Netflix Summary: Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller lend their vocal talents to this bizarre stop-motion animated parody of horror films. Dr. Frankenstein makes plans for his retirement and convenes a meeting of all monsters to announce his replacement. As word spreads that the doctor is going to choose his young nephew-protégé for the position, the visiting creatures plot a coup d'état that would leave Dr. Frankenstein retired … permanently.

Goldfish Updated + pictures!

2005-10-30T06:25:00.000-08:00

He has a name. Jacob gave the survivor a name. Today is the 10th day he has been here. He looks okay. But you never know. I hope he survives. I'm doing what it takes.

And here's what started it all...

Five goldfish in a fishbowl.

Now there's one in a fishbowl.

And his name is Gordon.

And here are a couple of pictures

Colby and Jake huddling under an umbrella. It was an outdoor wedding and it rained.

One morning Bella kinda smiled for me and let me take this.

Compare that to this smile we got from her...