Favorite Bloggers

One of my hobbies is taking photos, and every now and then I'm surprised when one turns out. Most of the time they don't.

I'm amazed by those who really have talent at what they do. Many of my fellow bloggers are excellent photographers; one of them being my newest addition to the blogroll, Brienne Michelle Photography.

Whether it's a coffee cup or a full blown wedding shoot, Brienne's creative eye and skill using her camera are stunning. She's a captivating writer too!

By all means, please visit her blog and you can see even more of her work on her web site.

I went to school with her husband (another talented person), and about the time we were deciding to become hetero life-mates, we met our future significant others. Thank God, we are much better off now.

Get Out Of Town

Why is it so hard to pick up and get out of town?

I have nothing to do this weekend and I thought it would be fun to go camping for a night or two. But I just can't commit myself to going. Why is that?

Maybe it's the musician in me that's afraid a gig will come up at the last minute. The last time I made a reservation at a campground, I got called for 5 gigs that weekend (a record for me). Granted, that was 5 years ago and I don't play as much now, nor am I as afraid to turn away work as I used to be.

I guess I should just pick up and go, I'll have a good time.

Photoblogging Monday!

I can't think of a better way to get back into blogging than with a new photoblog (although it hasn't worked the last few times).

I've really been enjoying the last few weeks spending time with friends and my beautiful wife. There's been a few opportunities to get my old trumpet out and make some noise, and I'm making inroads in the constant battle against the weeds in my back yard.

One of these days I'll hopefully have the talent (that many of my fellow bloggers have) of telling a story with my photos. Until then, it'll be show & tell....or, tell & show if we want to be chronologically accurate. I tell the story, then show the photo.

Today's photo is of my good buddy the grouper. He resides in the World of the Sea aquarium in SeaWorld and I've had the pleasure of spending the night with him twice now, thanks to the SeaWorld Adventure Camp. He's always kind enough to let me snap a shot of him 1st thing in the morning, even though he hasn't had a chance to 'freshen up'.

Rolling over at the break of dawn to see his morning face peer out at me has given me a deeper appreciation for my beloved wife, as she experiences the same thing every morning when she rolls over and sees me.

Grouper Morning Face

Rickrollin'

Yesterday's double post was my meager attempt at an April Fool's Day prank.

There is a strange Internet phenomenon called "rickrolling" in which people post links leading to one thing but actually point to a YouTube clip of 80's pop star Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up".

Google rickrolling to learn more about it.

Besides being a meager attempt at a prank, it also wasn't original either. I got the blog idea from one of my favorite bloggers, Bean, at Strongly Worded Letter. His post wasn't as safe for work as mine, but he got me good...especially considering his post on March 31st was all about rickrolling.

Google got into the rickrollin' act as well. Their Blogger.com homepage listed an exciting new beta version of Google WeBlog set for release. They had a preview video that promised a first look and many never before seen features. The link pointed to a YouTube clip of Tay Zonday (Internet star famous for singing Chocolate Rain) singing "Never Gonna Give You Up".

I can't figure out if I got rickrolled or taytossed!

Double Post Tuesday!!!!

Now that I've started writing again, I just can't stop!

I was bored at work today so I began randomly searching YouTube. After watching a few viral videos, I started looking up old friends like I sometimes do on Myspace and Facebook just by chance someone has posted a video (using their real name).

How freaky is it that I found a video of myself in high school! Now this is a little embarrassing, but in 10th grade my friends and I performed YMCA dressed as the Village People for a talent show.

You guessed it...I was the sailor.

Here's the video.

Enjoy!

Things I Miss

After a few weeks of the emotional high I was on, it all came crashing down to the expected rut I am in now. Spawned by the many changes I will be making this year and cleaning out the garage and finding old mementos, I've been reminiscing a lot.

I feel guilty when I'm in these moods because I think I should be thinking of the future. Those precious minutes of thought spent on my favorite Transformers episodes could be used to cure cancer, solve world poverty or figure out how I'm going to pay for law school.

But when I think of the past, I remember who I am, and that helps guide me where I'm going tomorrow.

So that being said, I'm going to list some things I miss, remember fondly or just can't get out of my head:

• Being one of the 10 million strong and growing Flinstone's kids
• The pinball cartoon on Sesame Street that counted up to twelve
• Anything with tracks and ramps
• Going to Disneyland with no concept of how expensive it was (and not being pissed that everything sold there is made in China)
  
• Knowing every supermarket, drug store and department store that sold baseball cards within a 100 mile radius of my house
• Spending all afternoon building a battle-ready fortified base with my toys but losing interest when it was time to battle
• The awe of 1980's corporate behemoths - Xerox, IBM, Coke, McDonalds, GE.
• Asking my first girlfriend out on April Fool's Day (15 years ago today!) and trying to convince her and then my Mom that it wasn't a joke...the first of many smooth moves in life
• Thinking that a color monitor would be the coolest thing in the world
• Thinking that a color printer would be the coolest thing in the world
• The A-Team, Knight Rider and AirWolf

That's enough for now...time to think ahead for a little bit and dream about the future. Is there anything you miss? Do you live in the past like me?

Photoblogging Monday!

My blog has turned into an almost weekly photoblog. I haven't felt like posting my thoughts, feelings or stories. I'm sorry to my loyal reader(s), maybe that's a good thing. :) I might get back into it one of these days.

Most of my best photos were taken by other people - my lovely wife's postcard photos from Hawaii, and today's photo, which came as a surprise to me when I was downloading the images from my camera taken at a recent outing to SeaWorld.

I had handed my camera to my 9 year-old nephew to hold; little did I know he had taken 100+ photos on his own during the 15 minutes it was out of my sight. Included was this gem that perfectly captures the curiosity and playfulness of that age.

Curiosity

Photoblogging Monday!

Today's photo comes from my recent trip to San Diego. I used up my best shot on Friday's post because it worked perfectly to describe my mood.

I love ducks. Wherever I go, whether it be Disneyland or Hawaii, I end up with 400 pictures of ducks and a dozen or so of friends & family.

Here is a lovely couple from the Seaport Village in San Diego. They were kind enough to take a break from there dinner to pose for me.

Ducks

Blah....

This photo perfectly describes how I feel today:

Negative Connotations

For some reason my name has many negative connotations to it - Dear John letters, toilets and prostitute customers among others. I don't know why...it's such a common name. Off the top of my head I can't think of any other name with such infamous associations.

Spitzergate has brought this to my attention recently.

Speaking of Spitzergate, am I the only one who finds a similarity between his escort, Ashely Alexandra Dupre and Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman (minus the perm)?

Maybe it's just he big foreheads...

One Step Closer

I took a small, but significant, step closer to true manhood yesterday when I took the time to learn how to properly re-string a weed-whacker.

For 2 years I have haphazardly coiled the plastic cord around the spindle. Neighbors would pull up a lawn chair and a cooler full of beer to watch the intricate dance that is me edging the lawn.

Cue The Blue Danube:
Open garage door. Find weed-whacker and extension cord. Spend 20 minutes untangling cord. Plug everything in and away we go. Start edging. Walk 3 steps. Stop. Flip weed-whacker. Cuss. Re-string. Walk 5 steps. Stop. Flip weed-whacker. Cuss. Re-string. Repeat for another 90 minutes.

Sometimes the cord is too short. Sometimes it is too long and wraps around itself. Sometimes I leave parts out and I don't know why. Every now and then the cord unravels itself and flies like a catapulted viper through the air.

Not any more.

In 5 minutes last night, I had successfully wound the cord. All it took was opening the instruction booklet and following the diagrams. I'm trying not to think how much time I would have saved had I done that in the first place.

The only entertainment my neighbors get now comes from watching me pathetically maneuver the push-mower around the yard.

Photoblogging Monday!

After a week of USC colors, it's time to end the celebration...at least as far as blog colors go.

The perception of time always amazes me. It seems like months have passed since I received my acceptance letter, but it has only been a week. It seems like yesterday when I was hiking in Kauai, yet we are coming up on a year since that happened.

Today's photo takes me back to Kauai (and hopefully, so will my frequent flier miles!). It's a shame this blog can't be of the scratch-n-sniff variety. Despite this lack of technology, I swear I can almost smell the island.

Plumeria

Rethinking Law School

After reading this explanation on the Texas Democratic Primary/Caucus, I've begun to think that if I can't understand this, maybe I'm not cut out for law school.

So Democrats can vote twice in Texas? And, if you are one of the super-delegates residing in Texas, you can vote 3 times (with the 3rd super-delegate vote weighted much more).

Makes perfect sense.

Photoblogging Tuesday!

Today's shot will beckon a call from my dear Mom warning me of the health risks of smoking cigars...and that's ok. It's nice to know that someone cares. There's nothing like enjoying a Cuban every now and then.

Corona y Montecristo No.2

Photoblogging Monday Has Been Postponed...

...because I found out on Friday that I have been accepted to USC's Gould School of Law!

The deal was sealed on Saturday when I was rejected from Stanford, the last of my pending applications. I will be sending in my letter of intent today, and then comes the fun part of trying to figure out how to pay for it.

The reality of it all hasn't sunk in yet. I'm still in a daze.

USC was the school I wanted to get into, but I never thought about because I figured I had no chance and didn't want to be crushed. Instead, I dreamed of Ivy League schools that I knew I wouldn't get accepted to, but would have fun thinking about.

To celebrate, I've gone 'SC nuts - temporary blog colors (too bad I can't figure out how to change all of them), insistent fight song running a continuous loop through my head, and the sudden need to buy overpriced sweatshirts.

How To Waste A Day

1. Get on the Internet.

2. Download and install Google Earth.

3. Run Google Earth program.

4. Watch 6 hours of your life disappear.

I have a curiosity (some say it's an obsession) with places I can't go. I love seeing what's around the corner, behind the door, and on the other side of the hill. My love of covert military operations further intensifies this curiosity.

After reading about the B-2 Stealth Bomber crash the other day, I thought it would be interesting to look up Guam and Anderson Air Force Base to see if I could see any of the 4 B-2s stationed there, sitting on the tarmac (my favorite word in the world).

While I didn't find any B-2s out in the open, I did see a bunch of other jets and cool G.I. Joe style buildings.

So then I looked up Edwards, and Whiteman, and Vandenburg. Then I started looking up U.S. bases in Iraq. I perused the different camps at Guantanamo. I saw Area 51 and the Nevada Nuclear Testing Grounds.

I am in voyeur heaven. I have a bird's eye view of all the places I can't access, all at my fingertips.

Today I'm feeling less militant, so I'm going to tour some UNESCO World Heritage sites.

This Guy's Good

The other day I pulled into a Mobil in Valencia to fill up the tank so I could make my trek back to Egypt.

As I began to fill the tank (and empty the bank account), a Honda Element zoomed in on the opposite side of the pump. I barely noticed as I was deep in thought, brought on undoubtedly by the gas fumes.

My visions of evil oil executives disappeared in a puff of smoke when a guy's head peaked around at the pump.

Guy: Is the gas any cheaper over on this side?

Me, coming out of my daze: Huh?

Guy: I was just wondering if gas was any cheaper over on your side...it's an arm and a leg over here.

Me: Nope, it's the same on my side.

At this point, I couldn't tell if the guy was hitting on me or just being super friendly. It was a little awkward, much like urinal talk, but it was a good line so I went along.

Guy: Do you have a long commute home?

Me: Yep, all the way out to the Antelope Valley.

Guy: Wow, and you work here in the industrial center?

I preceded to tell him what I did for a living then there was a long, pressing silence. I figured it would be rude of me not to show interest in what he did...so I bit.

Me: How about you?

Guy: Have you heard of Amazon.com? Yeah, I set up successful online franchises so folks like you can make extra money, or even work full time from home.

In the time it took me to fill up my tank, we had gone from complete strangers to being one "Wow, that sounds interesting" away from being hooked into his work-from-home spiel.

I was the helpless Millennium Falcon locked in the Death Star's tracking beam of this guy's pyramid scheme sales pitch.

Thankfully, the clack of the gas nozzle shutting off broke the sales pitch trance I was in and I politely wished him a good day and said it was time to hit the road.

Reflecting back, his pitch was beautiful in so many ways. First, I was compromised because I was caught off guard. Second, I fit his mold perfectly - long distance commuter filling up for the ride home wondering how much this tank was going to cost (in dollars and in hours worked that day). Finally, like a good magician, he led me down the path he wanted me to take. Bringing up high gas prices and the commute, but making me question him about his work instead of forcing it on me.

I bet he didn't even fill up, he probably drives from station to station preying on commuters like me. If I was that close to biting (and I usually have a pretty good sales pitch radar), his hit rate must be pretty good.

Anyone else have any good sales pitch stories to share?

Photoblogging Monday!

After two fun & wet days at Disneyland, it is back to work. I will post my review of Club 33 tomorrow if I remember.

This shot was taken at sunset on Wild Burro Cove (long after resident burro left). The problem with sunset shots is that they all look the same after a while, so it is hard to pick one over the other.

Thanks to Fortune, who already posted a photo with our house boat during sunset, it was easy to eliminate any of those.

Sunset Behind The Temple

And Then There Were Two

I received my rejection notice today in the form of an email from Harvard. You'd think for the $70 application fee they charge, they'd at least give me the courtesy of sending me a letter with their official letterhead to frame next to my others.

My goal is to have a "HALL OF REJECTION" (said with deep voice and ultra echo effects), with framed and matted rejection letters from all of the top schools in the country. I think a laser printed email will look kind of tacky. Maybe Harvard is really a tacky school?

That leaves USC and Stanford.

In other news, I owe the IRS $1500 this year, down from almost $4000 last year. What makes paying taxes even more ridiculous is that I'll write them a check on April 15th, then they'll send me an economy stimulus check for $1200 sometime in May (hopefully). Would it be that difficult to just reduce the amount I owe by what I'll be refunded, so I only have to come up with $300? Naw...that would make too much sense.

I have the pleasure of spending all weekend at Disneyland, including a lifelong dream of eating at Club 33 Saturday night. I really hope it rains!

Here's a picture I snagged backstage at Disney...makes me wonder what happened on July 12th, 2006.

Nothing much to say

I'm brain dead this week from 48 hours of lake cruising then the glory that is tax preparation.

I have little motivation to write or read anything, and nothing interests me. But that's OK.

Since you took the time to stop by my humble blog, I'll leave you with some interesting words of wisdom snagged from Seth Grodin's blog:

It's too easy to criticize hope. And in the end, cynicism is a lousy strategy.