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

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!”

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

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?

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?

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!

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!

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!

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...

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?!?

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

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

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...

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

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)

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!

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!

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...

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

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

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

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

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!

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.

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

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!