Gettin' Lucky in Kentucky

Last week, we went to Kentucky to spend some time with the family, as well as take in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The post below has links to some video I took; here are some pictures.

This is us at the games in Rupp Arena. When I bought the seats, I was not told that all of the seating in the upper deck of Rupp consists of bleachers...metal, no-backed bleachers. Not fun. We were crammed in together, and by Saturday, my back was killing me. Great games, but I would definitely think twice about going again in the future.

This is of me, rubbing Daniel Boone's foot for good luck at my alma mater, Eastern Kentucky University. I was very disappointed that they did not play in Lexington in the first round, but I was able to make the drive down to Richmond to see the old haunts, take some fun pics, and even buy a couple t-shirts. As we were driving past the arena, a bus pulled up, and out came the basketball team. As they had lost to North Carolina the night before, there was not a lot of fanfare, so I decided not to go say hi. Probably for the best; they looked pretty dejected, which I hope was from many hours on a bus, and not from their very respectable play against UNC.

Lots of good friends, family, and basketball. I even got to eat at a Bob Evans again...you just can't get those biscuits in California. Great trip!

NCAA vids

If you head over to my YouTube channel, you can see several new videos I have posted from my recent trip to Lexington, Kentucky, one of the host cities for the NCAA tournament. As my brackets are no longer worth the paper they are printed on, these videos and the remaining games will have to be enough to entertain you.

This video highlights one of the more fascinating things I saw at the games.



The Texas A&M Aggies did not have cheerleaders; instead, they have Yell Leaders, these vaguely Mormon-ish looking guys who give hand signals to the crowd to tell them what "yell" is next. You can read more about it here, but take it from me, as funny as it is to read about people in the "humping it" position is, it is a thousand times funnier to see hundreds of people actually doing it. Priceless.

Cat Touch Fever

We have two cats; one is 12 years old, the other is 7. When the younger one was a kitten, he would sleep nicely with the other cat, and she seemed to tolerate him. As he got older and more feisty, she kept her distance.

Over the past year or so, the younger one has calmed down a little, and I think they are starting to tolerate each other again. Now and then, if I come into a room quietly, I will see them sleeping near each other, but not touching. Because they are starting to accept each other, and because it is pretty chilly here 11 months out of 12, I have this theory that they lie next to each other for warmth, but only when we are not around to see them. Yes, I give them that much credit.

Over the weekend, I walked very quietly into the back bedroom, and took this picture:

The gray, older cat is at the top of the picture, and the younger one is that lump under the bed spread.

I finally cracked the case: my cats are Orthodox!

Big Dance, Take Two

With a last-second shot, my Eastern Kentucky University Colonels won the OVC Championship game, and advanced to their second NCAA Tournament in the past three years. Congratulations, Colonels, and good luck in the Big Dance!








ps. I know EKU will do well, if only because of their improved mascot.
Would you be afraid to play ball with this guy?

And...suddenly I lost interest

In the end, it only took one line:

"Don't worry...there are tons of celebrities to rob other than Mick Jagger."



And with that one line, I am probably done. I enjoyed The Knights of Prosperity, not only for its goofball humor, but also out of respect for a show whose limited premise basically required it to be a "one and done" single season series: a gang of losers, longing for the sweet life, plan to rob Mick Jagger. They set up the heist, various hijinx ensue, and 20ish episodes later, you wrap things up and call it a night. Right?

Wrong. I guess I tried to forget that television is a business, and no channel is likely to invest in a show that doesn't have some (albeit remote) hope to make it to the coveted 100 episodes necessary for syndication (read: free money). When the above line was uttered, my fantasy bubble was popped, and now I fear the remaining episodes will be a sad parade of cameos, as various B-listers shuffle through, wondering how to find Isaac and the lido deck.

Too bad; you were a lot of fun while I thought you were coming to an abrupt end.

Physical and emotional pain

That is what I feel every time I watch Adult Swim.

Many years ago, a good friend and I sat in my living room in Auburn, Alabama, and talked about creating a cable television channel that would show all of our favorite shows from the 70s and 80s, predominantly cartoons we grew up watching. Little did we know that, while we merely talked about The Damn Channel, one state over in the heart of Hotlanta, people were apparently having the same conversation. One difference is that they went one step further and talked about not only showing great cartoons, but making their own. Of course, the main difference is that they then went to Ted Turner and asked for large bags of cash to actually make it happen.

Now, every time I watch Adult Swim, as much as I enjoy it, at the same time, I also think, "Why am I not making this show?"

Damn.

Fun in Sin City

Back from a long weekend in Vegas; once again, we had a fantastic time. Here's a video I shot of the view from our hotel room:



The food highlight was Mix, situated on the 64th floor of the Mandalay Bay. The food was great, but it was not the best meal I have ever had, and I am not sure it was worth the price. I think we were paying for the ambience more than the food. On the entertainment front, we saw The Producers, "starring" David Hasselhoff. I will give him credit; he went for it, and the show was more entertaining because of it. I took a small ironic pleasure in the idea that The Hoff may end up alienating some of his German fans by playing a gay Hitler. As far as gaming went, I managed to play hours of poker every day, and was pleased with how I did. I played in five tournaments; I made the final table in three of them, and won one of them. In addition to the money, they gave me a souvenir chip that says "First Place" on it; that may have to be my card protector at our next home game. In addition to the tournaments, I sat down at three different cash games and played for a couple hours each time. When you add up the money I won, minus all of the buy-ins, I ended up losing $30 over three days and probably 12+ hours of play. Not bad at all.

Our trip to Vegas inadvertently overlapped with the NBA All Star game; fortunately, we were not exposed to any of the ugliness that we heard about, both through the media and word-of-mouth from cabbies and hotel workers (apparently the casinos are still very good at suppressing news that may have a negative effect on tourism). The short version of what we heard seemed to go like this:

• If you live in Las Vegas, made money due to the game being in town, BUT didn't have to be anywhere near the actual game/city/people, then you probably loved the event.

• If you live in Las Vegas, tried to make money on the game, AND had to actually be there to do so, you probably hated the event (and, according to three separate cab drivers, probably made less money than you would during a typical weekend without the influx of people).

What I know is that there were an extra 300,000 people in the city over and above the normal amount of tourists (which, given that it was a holiday weekend and Chinese New Year...Gung Hay Fat Choy, by the way...is already a lot), so it was hard to get a hotel room, a cab, and dinner reservations. Good thing we planned ahead.

As usual, we had a great time, and as usual, it is good to get out of Vegas after a couple days. That way, in a couple months, I'll be ready to go back.

The funk of forty thousand years...

What a fantastic weekend for left-of-center entertainment! On Friday, I finished World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks. If you read this blog with any regularity (or if you just scroll down a little), you will see that I have been hitting the philosophy and heavy literature pretty hard of late, and I think when you add that in to my job stress, I was working my way into a pretty dark place. So to lighten the load a little, I read a book about a zombie war. The end result? This was, hands down, one of the most fun reads I have had in a long time. I tore through this book like Zack through the Army at Yonkers (inside [the book] joke), and I loved every minute of it. The oral history angle is a good one; a great way to make the book global, and yet personal, all at the same time. On top of that, add in the sci-fi zombie angle, as well as the alternate history what-would-the-world-look-like-afterwards angle, and you end up with an exciting, interesting, and (surprisingly) thoughtful book. If you like any of the above themes, I recommend this book highly. After I finished, I found a cheap copy on eBay and mailed it directly to my brother. Others must know. Solid A.

Then last night, we went to see Pan's Labyrinth, the latest film from Guillermo del Toro. I really liked this movie; it interweaves a fantastical fairy tale within a painfully realistic story of survival and hate. I thought the visuals were amazing, if often grotesque, and I was pleasantly surprised that I recognized more Spanish words than I thought I would. I would recommend seeing this movie on the big screen, for the imagery, the sound, and because it makes it easier to read the subtitles. See this film!

Are you there, God? [part two]

Finished The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins, last week, and have to say that, overall, I was disappointed. I thought that he made some interesting points (given both my current and past careers, I found the discussion of religion as a form of child abuse very interesting), and additionally argued well for the acceptance of atheists as normal, healthy people, rather than wicked heathens who should be outcasts.

But what struck me throughout the book, and really turned me off, was the smugness with which the author made many of his points. It seems odd to try and make the point that atheists are not all intellectual snobs, looking down their noses at religious people as ignorant, but then basically prove that same point by looking down his nose at religious people and portray them as ignorant (or worse). I guess I was hoping for a more clear-cut "here is why I am an atheist and why atheism is okay" book, rather than a manifesto. To be fair, Dawkins makes it clear early in the book that he is out to convert, so I was not necessarily surprised by the tone of the book. However, part of what I dislike about religion is its attempt to make me a believer; trying to make that aspect of religion work for the anti-religious comes off as insincere and ugly.

I'll give this book a nice, agnostic C.

(btw, if you look to the right, you will see that, with my next book, I have decided to take a little break from philosophy and heavy literature, and read something that is just fun. I'm only a few pages in, but so far, so good!)

Laettner for three...

Received our 2007 NCAA tournament tickets in the mail today; this picture is the view we will have during the first and second rounds in Lexington.


Not exactly courtside, but right in the middle and definitely worth the price. They may not let me in if they read that subject line, but that's pretty unlikely.

Maybe the birds did it!

I finished The Echo Maker, by Richard Powers, and I think the nicest thing I can say about the book is that it was written very well. Did I care about any of the characters? Not really. Did I relate to any of them? Again, not especially. Did the plot explore any topics I find fascinating? Nope. So why keep going? Because the writing was that good. I think a good comparison would be this: imagine sitting at a dinner party, listening to a not-terribly interesting story, but the storyteller is James Earl Jones. With a voice like that, I would listen to a reading of the phone book for a little while.

Same with this book. I finished it about a week ago, and I already would be hard pressed to remember large portions of the plot, but what I do remember is enjoying the voice. I will certainly look at other works by this author, but I wouldn't necessarily give this book a strong recommendation. I'll go B-.

The geeks are in charge

I loved it when Lost did this, and I love that Heroes is doing it as well.


This sort of subliminal advertising, that requires me to actively seek out the ad, rather than passively sit back and be fed images of sexy women and alcohol and such, is, I'm a little embarrassed to admit, just good geeky fun.

Balk

balk /bawk/ v. 1. To stop short and refuse to go on [ex. The horse balked at the jump]

Something I am going to try to be better about, now and into the future (call it a resolution, if you must), is give myself permission to stop reading a book if I am just struggling to get through it. Usually, once I start, I feel like I have to see it through to the end, find out if it gets better, etc. No more; if I am bored or uninterested, I am going to start stopping.


Case in point: Snow, by Orhan Pamuk. I got about half way through this book, and I realized that I had been reading it for about two weeks. If you read this site, you know I have a lot of reading time on my commute, and usually finish a book in a week, sometimes faster. I realized part of the pacing problem: I just truly didn't care. The writing style was somewhat engaging, but the story just put me into a stupor, and I further realized that I had no interest in how the story continued, let alone ended.

If you finished this book, and think I am missing out, let me know. As for me, I have a growing pile of books from the library that I want to read, and it is time to allow myself to move on.

Sunday, Yummy Sunday

What a weekend! Started it off by coming in 4th place in an online freeroll poker tournament (started with 1,800 players!). Best $7 I earned (that's right, earned!) this weekend. True, it was also the only $7 I earned this weekend, but that's beside the point.

Sunday, we tried a fun dim sum place for lunch before doing some shopping (they have fun pictures of some of their menu items here). We've heard really good things about this place, and it was good, but we've had better. The salty pepper fish was pretty amazing, but I am not sure I would go back (the wait was pretty long, although to be fair, we went at the height of the yum cha rush).

BTW, in case you were wondering, I think even Bono would punch me for that title.

The 2006 Esqys

Last year, I made a list of some of the highlights of the year, and thought I would continue the tradition. Like last year, I am favored to win every category, and I must remind everybody...please, no wagering.

Best trip (non-family) = the Mini Takes the States Road Rally. Fun trip, fun people, fun to not be at work for a whole week. Check out my archives for the full story.

Best trip (family) = Thanksgiving in Colorado with the Gilberts. Great to see everybody again, and need to do that more often.

Best book I read this year = The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Beautifully simple book about the love between a father and a son...told against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic nightmare. If my father were still alive, I would have shared this book with him.

Best new habit = getting more assertive at work. As I continue to learn the law and the various court procedures, I am trying to become a better advocate for my clients. I am getting better at believing in myself and standing my ground when I think I am right. More and more often, I am.

Best new habit, runner up = paying off debt. We have been free of credit card debt for a few years now, but earlier this year I was able to pay off my undergraduate student loans, we are a couple payments away from paying off the car, and should be able to pay off the wife's student loans in the coming year. My law school debt will be hanging around for quite a while (emphasis on "quite"), but with those others out of the way, I think we can seriously begin looking at buying our own home in the near future. Yay, us!

Best continuing habit = running, but I'm not going as often as I need to. Hopefully this will be a continuing winner in years to come.

Best purchase (big) = our new car, an '06 Mini Cooper. Made driving fun again, and made parking less of a chore. Also exciting? I've never owned a new car before. Honestly, made (makes) me a little nervous.

Best purchase (smaller) = TiVo. Has revolutionized how I watch television, and I am proud to say, has worked out how I hoped: I watch fewer overall hours of television, and can't remember the last commercial I saw. Fantastic!

Best videogame = Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. Playing video games in my 30s? Check. Playing a game where I get to re-live my favorite movies of all time? Check. Both of those, but doing it as lego characters? Check. All of the above, and the wife likes to play it with me? Come on...that's almost too many positives for one game!

2006 was a positive year for me, and I hope it was good for you as well. Good luck to all of us in the coming year!

Mochitsuki!

This morning, we woke up very early (esp. for a Saturday!) and drove to San Jose to take part in a Japanese new year custom called mochitsuki, which involves steaming rice, pounding into a paste, and then forming it into little disc-shaped rolls to be eaten on New Year's Day. It was a lot of fun to see everybody, share a traditional custom, and beat the hell out of some unsuspecting rice. Good times.

Here's me, showing some rice who's boss.



This one shows our friends pounding their mochi...and yes, in case you wondered, the double entendres were pretty much an all-day event.





We got to see our good friends, drank sake, took out some aggression on some rice, and went home with way too many mochi. What's not to love?

On the comeback trail...

If you are a regular reader (I'm speaking to both of you here), you know my sorrow at getting kicked off my favorite online poker site due to recent legislation which attempts to ban US players from making deposits to certain online gaming sites.

So I am trying to get back in the old-fashioned way...by winning free money!


This morning (I'm embarrassed to admit how long I played), I monied in my second freeroll, making it to the final table and coming in 8th out of 1,800 players. I now have a mighty $5 of other people in my account, and am pleased that I am once again playing poker with free money.

WSOP, here I come!

Shootings and tigers and earthquakes...oh my!

Busy day in my neighborhood; came home to see on the news that a tiger "attacked" a volunteer at the zoo down the street. While I was watching that, at least six cop cars and three ambulances went screaming past us to a house one block up where a cop and suspect both died in a gun battle. While I was watching the local news to learn about the shooting, a small earthquake hit, shaking us up but causing no damage.

No locust swarms or frogs yet, but I'm keeping an umbrella handy just in case.

One dozen and counting

The better half and I celebrated twelve years of being married this weekend with a fun "vacation" downtown. We relaxed, had a fantastic dinner, and then retired for the evening. We even had fun breakfast this morning, and did not order our eggs poached.

Happy anniversary to us!

Everybody Wang Chung...

Finished American Psycho, and as weird as it sounds, I enjoyed this book. It is harrowing, disgusting, pornographically violent, and all the same, it was fun to read. Watching as Patrick slowly spirals into his personal hell, which may or may not exist outside of his own mind, you get a real snapshot of the superficial 80s in all their New Wave glamour. The details of the narrative, especially about the clothing, are meticulous, and one of the main reasons this book works so effectively as satire. The concept that the characters have everything going for them on the surface, but are so utterly empty and alone, is driven home perfectly.

This book is not for the squeamish; I consider myself fairly desensitized by now, but a couple of the scenes made my stomach turn. Also a tricky book to read on the train; definitely one of those books that gets so graphic, you start to wonder if anyone is reading over your shoulder, and if so, what they must think of you. I give this book a solid A, and recommend it if you want to see how satire is done.

Now, in a rare double bill, I have to share that after finishing Psycho, I thought I would give Ellis's first book, Less Than Zero, a try. It is such a fast read, I didn't even have time to put it in the sidebar. Maybe it was because I had just finished Psycho, and was expecting bigger things, but I really didn't care for this book. The other maybe? I think Zero was the author's warm up to Psycho, and the latter is in my opinion the vastly superior book. There are several shared themes: too much money, too many drugs, too much sex, and so much of everything that none of it means anything to anyone. All of the characters in Zero were bored, and I got very bored reading about their "poor little rich kids" lives. I will say I liked the book better than the movie, but that is (a) pretty normal, and (b) still not saying much. D.

Envying the fictional

Every time I log on to Gmail, I see this picture, advertising their new phone-compatible email program.

This fictional person leads a very rich, full fictional life. Where is his spam promising low interest rates and cheap prescription drugs?

I hope he has fun at his fictional BBQ. I wouldn't mind getting invited to a fictional BBQ.

Out of this world!

[I tried to think of the cheesiest title possible for this post, the one that would make Ellis cringe the most, and I believe I picked a winner]

I finished Lunar Park, by Bret Easton Ellis, and I was impressed. This is the first Ellis book I have read, and based on the publicity I have heard about him, the mix of praise and disgust, I am not sure what I expected, but "tender" was not high on the list.

On the surface, this is a horror story, a pseudo-autobiographical account of events that the author claims happened in his life. If you choose to believe that these events actually happened, I am guessing you also loved that horrible Johnny Depp movie. If, like me, you choose to see the "events" of this book more as either drug/alcohol induced nightmares, and/or simple theatrical devices used by the author to show us his own inner deterioration as the rift between himself and his estranged father eats at him over the years, then I think this is an easier book to digest (pun somewhat intended), and is much more interesting.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. There were stretches where I thought it could have been tighter (the first chapter was useful to me, but I can understand how critics would see it as self-indulgent), but overall, I was impressed that the author used the underlying horror story as a lesson about connecting with his own son in a way that he did not connect with his father. The final chapter is touching, and there is a genuine sadness there, even if it is hidden behind fictional characters and blood-soaked monsters. I want to read American Psycho so I understand some of the portions of this book that refer to the earlier work, and based on the author's writing style, I think I will enjoy reading it. I'll give this book a solid B.

Thanksgiving Day Race

Here's another video from my trip, that for some reason I can't embed on the blog (?). Not sure what I like more: my mom's laughter when I make fun of my brother's bald head (which is in the middle of the screen in the back, wearing a cool headband/earmuff combo), or my uncle's attempt to hide behind my mom and not be on camera. Probably a tie.

The Slide

Same park, same niece, but different adult and apparatus. Notice the lack of injury this time. Lesson learned.

The Tire Swing

My niece, enjoying the tire swing at a local elementary school. What I didn't record was her dismount shortly after this, when we had played too long and she got very dizzy, which resulted in her losing her balance, falling, and hitting her head. Worst. Uncle. Ever.

Turkey Day in Colorado

Just got back from a Thanksgiving visit to see the family in Colorado. Although it meant once again abandoning our normal Turkey Day ritual of staying home and in pajamas all day, I am really glad we went. The airport both ways was (amazingly) easy to navigate, in part because we went out on Tuesday and came back Friday night. Both ways, the airport was almost empty, and getting a rental car was simple (although I am so sick of the hard sell at the counter: just give me what I reserved, and stop trying to sell me expensive insurance and upgrades I don't want. Is that so much to ask for?).

The trip was hosted locally by my grandparents, and included seeing almost all of the (immediate) members of my mom's side of the family, including my mom, my brother and his family, and a surprise visit by special guest star Uncle Bob. My brother's three kids were the stars of the show; they are all adorable, well behaved, and a lot of fun to be around. Hard to believe they are related to me.

On Thanksgiving Day, we all went downtown in the freezing cold (it was below 30 degrees, so I am not exaggerating here) for the Thanksgiving Day Run, a four mile event that wound its way through the Fort. My brother actually ran, while my Mom, Uncle Bob, and I walked it. I felt a little better about eating several plates of food later that day...a little.

Speaking of food, no trip is complete without making sure that my dietary tourism is complete. We hit the two big spots on my itinerary, which are admittedly on opposite ends of the culinary spectrum, but both great stops for me: Bisetti's, a local favorite for decades and a must-visit on any trip to see the grandparents; and Fazoli's, that most-missed fast-food favorite of mine that hasn't quite expanded out to me, but is working its way West. Someday...[sigh]...

Great time, great trip, and wonderful to see the family again. Need to do that more often.

Daddy Dearest

I finished The King of Kings County, by Whitney Terrell. The story covers a span of several decades, and manages to stay true to the characters in a realistic manner as human beings, not two-dimensional characters. I hate it in a movie when we see the character as a child, and then twenty years later as an adult, and they are wearing the same glasses and clothing so we know who they are (I think of this as "The Big Change," although that might not be fair to said movie). Heavy-handed visual cues like that pander to the audience, making a paternalistic assumption that we are too dumb to otherwise follow a story. In this book, the characters didn't just get older, they grew up, and did so in a thoughtful and well-planned manner.

I liked this book; I doubt I would have picked it up unless it had been recommended to me, but having read it, I not only enjoyed the story itself, but I enjoyed the writing enough that I will probably take a look at Terrell's other works. I seem to be on a kick recently, reading books told in the first person by authors writing about themselves, talking about their difficult relationships with their respective fathers (see sidebar for my current book). You don't have to be Freud to figure out why I have been reading this type of book recently, but it also helps that they are well-written and, realistically, don't resolve neatly or cleanly. I'll give this book a solid B.

My Xmas bonus

I went on a trip to the Central Valley today to visit four different clients; made for a long day, but glad I was able to see all of them in one big swing. At my third stop, my seven year-old client asked me where I worked; when I said Oakland, she said, "Wow, that's a long drive." She's right; probably 1.5 hours without traffic. When the visit was over, she excused herself while I talked to the foster mom, and when she came back, she gave me this apple "in case you get hungry."

I know I probably earn a fraction of the money the corporate law types make, but how many of them get apples? A nice ending to a long day.

Are you there, God? No, really...are you there?

I finished The Eternal Footman, by James Morrow, and by doing so, I also finished what the author refers to as The Godhead Trilogy, three related and yet separate novels which explore how the world would react if the dead body of God, all two miles of Him, fell from the sky and landed in the Atlantic Ocean. I would absolutely recommend these books (especially Towing Jehovah, the first book in the series) to anybody, whether or not you are religious or believe in God. The concept of God dying plays with everybody's beliefs: if you believe in God, but He died, would your belief change, strengthen, or weaken? If you did not believe in God, would His death change your mind? And maybe most importantly, would the concrete knowledge that there was a God, but He is now dead, change how we interact with each other?

These books are fantastic, as novels, as satire, and as explorations of the reader's beliefs through the actions of the characters. A+ for all three books, no question.

Goodbye, dear friend

With the passage of the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act, several internet poker sites are either suspending play for US players, or simply restricting new deposits. My favorite site, Hollywood Poker, stopped all real money play for US players last week, and gave us two days to cash out. So with the passage of this bill comes the close of something I probably spent too much time doing anyway. I am not sure whether to thank the Republicans, or hope they all get run out of office...oh, wait a minute...

Come on, Dems...bring back my hobby!

(ps. as to the post below; it turns out that a lot of people knew that they would be getting thrown off of the site, but rather than cashing out, were instead playing in real money games and sort of "burning off their money," i.e. playing really badly in the hopes of either hitting big or going out in a blaze of glory. I played several smaller tournaments right before the US players got cut out, and monied in several, adding close to $40 to the total cash out check I will get in the mail soon. Again, given that I never put a dollar into the site, getting a check for a few hundred bucks of other peoples' money should be something I am excited about, but I think I would rather keep playing...)

Roller Coaster

That's how I would describe my poker of late; up, down, and a lot of sideways. I won two freerolls in two weeks (beat out 389 players in the first one, 494 in the second, pictured above), but have been getting owned in the sit-and-go tournaments, which are single-table, ten players, winner take all. I think the problem is that I usually play very low-stakes games, and therefore people have little to lose, and luck is more of a factor than it should be: people don't respect a healthy bet, people chase hands till the end, and, quite frankly, people do absolutely idiotic things and occasionally get rewarded for it. Luck has to be part of the game, otherwise it wouldn't be fun, and I have certainly gotten lucky my fair share of times. However, as ironic as this sounds, I think I need to play in games where there is a little more at stake to cut down on the "luck" factor.

I'm sure my wife is thrilled to read that.

Fortunate Son

I finished The Greatest Man In Cedar Hole, by Stephanie Doyon, last week. I liked this book a lot; I thought that the characters were interesting, the plot was a little predictable but still fun, and the author's writing style was light and easy to follow. Not the Greatest Book In My Library, but definitely enjoyable.

I particularly enjoyed the subplot about Spud's business; without giving too much away, I will share that he gets involved in a get-rich-quick scheme that actually gets him fairly rich, fairly quick. I thought the author handled this very well; it must be very tricky to allow the reader to see just enough of what is going on without giving too much away, and to do it in a way that seems plausible to the characters as well. Nicely done; I'll go B+ and recommend this book.

Sweeping the clouds away

Had a great time last night; was on "the list" for an event put on by the JCCCNC, an organization in which a good friend of ours is very active. The event was called Asian Americans on Broadway: Opening Doors; the show consisted of half a dozen Broadway vets singing show tunes from shows they have performed in, as well as telling stories about the difficulties involved in getting roles. It was an entertaining evening; Michael K. Lee has a voice that could stop a truck (a good skill, since he mentioned leaving for Korea soon to do Miss Saigon...remember to duck and cover, Michael!), and Christine Toy Johnson's story of how the poster art for the show She Loves Me was changed from a blonde to a brunette when she starred in it was a crowd pleaser. When I met Christine in the lobby later, I told her I remembered her role on Oz; she seemed pleased and surprised, all at the same time. I loved Hazel Anne Raymundo's rendition of "The More You Ruv Someone" from Avenue Q, and I especially liked that the crowd enjoyed it as well.

But there is no question that, for me, the highlight of the evening was watching and later meeting Alan Muraoka, seen here with my beautiful wife. If you don't have kids (or, in the alternative, if you aren't a big geek like me), you may not know that Alan is a regular on Sesame Street; he is the current proprietor of the store that used to be run by Mr. Hooper. Alan was not only gracious enough to pose for a photo (I played the "my nephews and niece are big fans" card, allowing me not to embarrass myself further with the "I was sad when Mr. Hooper died, even though I'm a grown man" or "I have a Sesame Street tattoo, even though I'm a grown man...do you want to see it?" cards. That would have been pretty pitiful), he is sending autographed cast photos to said nephews and niece, thus finally assuring I will not win the "Worst Uncle Ever" award again this year. I was running out of room on my metaphorical mantle.

A great evening...a "magic carpet ride," if you will...

P.Y.T.

Finished Veronica, by Mary Gaitskill, and have to say that while I enjoyed the author’s use of language and her writing style, I think I read this book incorrectly. The prose is beautiful, but the plot, characters, and story are forgettable; I take it this was intentional, as the story revolves around a young woman who becomes a model and is, herself, beautiful and forgettable. Because of this, I think this book would be great to read inside of an International Coffees commercial: on the couch, cup of (pseudo) coffee steaming next to you, rain smacking lightly on the windows, pausing occasionally and thinking about Jean Luc. You would have a chance to enjoy the language all at once, and then put the book away and let it drift quickly out of your memory, like literary cotton candy. Instead, I read this book in short bursts on the train, surrounded by loud, often smelly people, which didn’t allow me to get very involved in the language, and only heightened the shallowness of the story itself.

I’ll give this book a B-, but have a feeling it could have gone higher if I had read it differently.

Great Expectations

Wow, I really wanted to like this book. A thumbnail sketch of the plot of Winkie: a forgotten teddy bear decides to run away from home, only to be arrested by the FBI and put on trial as a domestic terrorist. What's not to love about that premise?

Granted, the book is more than that, and has a bedtime story feel worthy of its protagonist. Unfortunately, I once again allowed my expectations to get set too high, and so what is basically a sweet, funny little book was built up in my mind, and I just didn't think it was as wonderful as I am convinced it could have been. I think one of the main problems was the various reviews I read calling this book a "satire," which it is not, although the premise certainly lends itself to that genre. Note to self: stop reading reviews before you read the book.

Overall, I thought this book was...nice. I'll give it a C+, and mention that I did not regret the time spent with Winkie, especially the parts that made me remember childhood toys that I hope are not living in a shack in the woods mailing bombs to various people and organizations.

[speechless]

The day has finally arrived: after years of waiting and hoping, we are finally the proud owners of TiVo! I could not be more excited; I spent most of the weekend just playing with it, learning the features, setting up a Season Pass or three, and just generally geeking out. Fantastic.

As you may be aware, TiVo tracks what you record and how you rate suggestions, and then automatically records shows it "thinks" you may enjoy. After being plugged in for about 10 hours, TiVo apparently knew me well enough to record something called Sushi TV, a show that features clips from wacky Japanese game shows. It was spectacular.

I am not sure whether to be impressed...or a little frightened.

This was no lawn mower accident!

Finished The Ruins this morning on the train; I will give it a B- in that it was entertaining, kept me interested, and was a solid light read. Something positive about both this book and Smith's previous book, A Simple Plan, is that the author does a great job of creating relatable, interesting characters, and additionally does a great job of making their interactions very believable. Like the previous book, the reader can see the characters moving towards the precipice, and can see the characters realize they are moving towards that precipice and can't seem to turn back, and the reader is forced to continually ask himself how he would react in a similar situation.

The reason I'm going with a B-, and the negative I have to mention (and I will try not to reveal too much in saying this) is that the set up and premise of this book are so implausible that, no matter how solid the characters and their interactions are, the fact is they are stuck in a wacky sci-fi/horror movie dilema just to the left of Little Shop of Horrors. Where his first book took an improbable, yet possible premise, and placed us smack in the middle, this book sets us down in what reads like a "please option me" screenplay for the new wave of graphic horror movies. Scott, you are better than that.

Do the (b)Right(ness) Thing

Watched Spike Lee's The Inside Man over the weekend; at the time, I was struck that Lee and the art director had made such an interesting choice to shoot the movie primarily in pinks and greens. The better half was convinced there was something wrong with the DVD player, but I created this whole scenario in my mind that Lee, in shooting a modern film noir, was making an artistic choice to shoot his movie in colors which would be the opposite of black and white.

Nope. Color balance was off on my DVD player, and didn't realize it until after we had watched the whole thing, after I spent time listening to the commentary on the DVD, waiting for comments about the color, and after I looked up pics from the movie this morning. Score (yet) another one for the wife.

By the way, entertaining movie.

Mini video of the MINIs

I posted a video I made with my cellphone on YouTube so you can enjoy the kickoff of the MINI Takes the States Rally like you were standing right next to me (how cool is that sentence?). What a world we live in.

1,540 miles later...

We got back from our road trip last night; I wasn't able to update the blog along the way, so this afternoon I will post stories about each day of the drive, along with some pictures I took. I'll change the dates so the stories reflect the calendar a little more accurately. The short version: over the past week, we drove to Las Vegas and back again, and had some fun adventures along the way. Scroll down and enjoy watching my beard grow!

Day 6: Homeward Bound

We left Avila this morning and headed north to Hearst Castle, something that we've talked about seeing in the past, but is just far away enough that we've never gotten around to visiting. The tour was nice; I am not sure if I am in awe of the splendor, or disgusted by the excess, but either way, it's a hell of a house. I asked the tour guide if Hearst had ever screened Citizen Kane in his theater; she said no, but I doubt that is true. A lot of the tour seemed to gloss over and whitewash Hearst's past, so I took all of it with a grain of salt. Sand? Whatever it is you take a grain of. Regardless of whether you view Hearst as a Nazi sympathizer or great American capitalist, the idea that this man was spending $10,000 a month on ice for his polar bear at a time when most of the world was plunged in the depths of the Great Depression strikes me as obscene.

After the tour, we headed home, and wrapped up our trip across the western part of America. According to the odometer, we covered more than 1,500 miles. According to the temperature gauge, we went from the low 50s leaving SF to 114 in the Mojave Desert. We played some good (and not so good) poker, ate fantastic food, met interesting people, and didn't kill each other. A successful vacation, indeed.

Day 5: Las Vegas to Avila Beach

We actually planned on the fifth day of our trip being long, but I miscalculated a little, so it turned out LONG. We left Vegas around 11AM and headed west towards LA. We did manage to spot a Fazoli's for lunch, a rare treat for us since moving away from Kentucky.

The bad part was that we hit Los Angeles right around 4, just in time for rush hour. Ouch. We crawled up the coast towards Santa Barbara, and got to our hotel in Avila Beach about two hours later than we'd hoped. This didn't leave any daylight to explore the area as we'd wanted to, which was fine, since we weren't really in the mood to get back in the car. We had dinner at Fat Cat's Cafe, down on the pier at the beach; good food + low prices x silly pictures of cats on the walls = feeling better.

One of the amazing and infuriating parts of the drive was what I will call the Accordian Effect: that weird traffic anomaly whereby traffic comes to a complete standstill for absolutely no reason at all. My guess is that, like the proverbial butterfly in China, one guy taps his brakes (rather than just laying off the gas...I hate brakes on the highway about as much as I hate anything in life), which causes the guy behind him to tap his, causing the next guy to lay on his a little more, and so on, until traffic is coming to a complete stop back down the highway, and then will continue to speed up and slow down as people break free, speed up, and then have to slam on their brakes again. Annoying to say the least.

Day 4: The Poker Gods smile on us

Tried the noon tournament at the Luxor again; stayed in longer this time, but it's a tough tournament if you want to play good poker. Allow me to explain: you start with $500 in play chips, but the blinds start at $25-$50, and go up every 15 minutes. That means from the very beginning, you are committing 10% of your stack in the big blind, and a standard raise in poker (3x the big blind) commits almost a third of your chips. Therefore, it is very difficult to hang around and wait for good cards, or you will get blinded out. The result is a lot of all-in bets early on, and you hope to get lucky. I did not get lucky. In fact, as I was about to get blinded out, I went all in with Ace, King...and got beat by a guy who went all in with King, Queen and hit the Queen on the turn. I had a couple more chips than him, so was forced to go all in on the very next hand. I look down at Ace, Queen...not a bad starting hand. The same guy calls me with King, Jack...and hits his Jack on the river. Ouch. One hand, okay...but two in a row? The Poker Gods were telling me it was not my time. Yet.

Since we had the car, we decided to drive out to the Red Rock Casino to take a look and see if we could meet Heather from Hell's Kitchen. The casino is nice, and the poker room is very large. Unfortunately, the games were a little out of our comfort zone, so we opted not to play. We did go to the restaurant that I was told Heather would be executive chef (scroll down a bit for my earlier post about this), but were told by the hostess that while portions of the show were taped there, in fact Heather had been offered the exec chef job at their Italian restaurant...and still hadn't accepted the job. So no pseudo-celebrity meet and greet for us. Back to the Strip.

We signed up for the 6PM tournament at Mandalay Bay, and went to play some low-limit at the Excalibur again. We both ended up down this time, so a wash from the previous day. On the way out, the host told us this long and very personal story about an experience in Big Sur that he felt was both spiritual and very emotional...why he chose to share this with us, I am not sure, but I have to admit it was a nice story.

Mom, if you are reading my blog, skip this next section...

[Interesting side story: Vegas is a constant destination for conventions, and while we were there, we kept seeing people with two different badges; one for something called Isagenix, and then a whole different kind of badge, with naked ladies on it. I found out that there was a convention for owners of "gentlemen's clubs" going on, which partly explained why we also kept seeing women with basketball-sized breasts walking around...aside from just being in Vegas, that is. Anyway, when we sat down to play at the Excalibur, we happened to sit down next to this woman. Huh...small world.]

The tournament was great; both the wife and I made it to the final table, and both of us made it into the money. The better half came in fifth, and I came in third. The money from that made up for our ealier buy-ins and then some; in total, we ended up leaving Las Vegas with all of the cash we brought plus about $50. How cool is that?

Also fun: there was a UFC fight coming up at the Luxor over the weekend, and so a bunch of fighters and trainers were in town, and several played in our tournament. One of the fighters, Thomas "WildMan" Denny sat at my table, and we had a very cool conversation about Ultimate Fighting and poker. He said that he gets more excited about going all in sometimes than he does at his fights; I pointed out that in poker, there is more luck involved since fat guys like me actually have a chance of knocking him out. He thought that was pretty funny.

Day 3: Viva Las Vegas!

The third day of our Odyssey was one of the best days I have ever had in Las Vegas, and I have had some great days in LV. Started with the noon poker tournament at the Luxor; not my best poker (went out on the first hand I played when I went all in with top pair, and guy called me with a draw...which he of course hit on the river...unreal), but I'm not at work, so things are magic. The better half almost made it to the final table, but also felt the wrath of the dreaded river. After poker, we headed to the spa for massages; very nice after a couple days in the car.

The poker was still calling to us, so we headed over to the Excalibur for some low-limit fun; played for about an hour and a half, and we both walked away up. Nice. After that, we headed back over to our hotel for a fantastic dinner at Diego (some of the best guacamole I've ever had), and then wrapped up the evening with a show at the Tropicana. The show was as cheesy as we expected, and topless showgirls do not automatically equal "sexy" (Baywatch was wrong; naked people should not run). Still, entertaining, and one of the last Las Vegas review shows around, so glad we saw it.

On the way back to the room, I finally spotted a celebrity (one of my long-standing issues is that I never see famous people; I guess they don't hang out at the 1-3 limit poker tables?): Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and a woman I assume is his girlfriend were heading into Tabu. I gave Shari the camera and got ready to do the gushing "I'm a big fan" speech, but it was clear that Chris and his lady friend were arguing about something, and given that he was on a date and not in the best of moods, I decided against asking for a picture. Part of me thinks I did the right thing, but then again, Chris was wearing his signature cowboy hat and a Full Tilt Poker bowling shirt, so it's not like he was going incognito or something. Oh well.

A great day!

Day 2: Santa Barbara to Las Vegas

The second day started well: free cinnamon rolls in the lobby, which was filled with a mixture of rude Europeans and families, headed by Angry Dads that made it clear they didn't like my t-shirt. So sorry.

We headed down the coast, skirting LA (didn't see the Hollywood sign?) and heading off into the desert towards Barstow, the site of a planned pit stop hosted by another group of MINI owners.

Had lunch at an In and Out Burger (I don't like their religious messages, but MTTS gave us gift certificates for a free lunch...I put my feelings aside for a free lunch), and met Jim McDowell, president of MINI USA. Nice guy.

Drove on to Nevada, where we stopped at Buffalo Bill's Casino for a free ride on The Desperado. I sat next to Jim, and I am still kicking myself for not taking a picture of me and the president on the coaster...that would have gotten me on the website for sure.

Finally made it to Vegas and our hotel; got the sweet upgrade to the bigger suite (why? Because I'm Brendon, dammit...that's why! Seriously, I think it had more to do with it being mid-week in August, and therefore not a lot of guests), and then headed over to the House of Blues for the MTTS event. Not that exciting, but we're in Vegas, and that's all that matters.

Day 1: Monterey to Santa Barbara

Today we began our road trip with other MINI owners as part of the MINI Takes the States Road Rally. We drove to the kick off in Monterey while it was still very dark; as usual, MapQuest screwed up a pretty important left vs. right, and it took us a while to find the gathering. Once we spotted the parking lot with about 200 MINI Coopers, we were pretty sure we were in the right place.

The beach party was nice: coffee, donuts, coffee, bottled water for the road, and did I mention coffee? We took our photo with the cutest sand castle ever.



The drive down the coast is very windy; we stopped at a vista or two just to get out of the car for a minute.



Also stopped in Pismo Beach for lunch and a look at what the beach looks like without fog and wearing a sweater. Who knew?



Eventually got to Santa Barbara and our hotel on State Street (think Union Street in San Francisco, only everyone is tan and in shorts). The hotel was "historic," which is code for "small elevators." Still, a fridge and a comfy bed...nice.

"It's raw fish, SLICED!"

Semi-enjoyed the season finale last night of Hell's Kitchen, a reality show on Fox that was (like a lot of reality tv) good, dumb fun. I say "semi-enjoyed" because I had been hopeful that Kevin "K-Grease" would pull out the win, but I also thought Heather was the clear favorite from the second week or so. Glad Virginia didn't smile her way into her own restaurant.


Here's a surprise: this is the restaurant where Heather is now the executive chef. How do I know this? Certainly not from the casino or show websites; not a single mention anywhere on either. Doesn't that seem odd? I guess if the Red Rock is trying for upscale, maybe they don't want to advertise that their exec chef is a reality contest winner, but still...I would think they would advertise this a little bit?

So how did I figure it out? I called the Red Rock Casino reservations line and asked; the woman who answered had no idea what I was talking about, nor had she ever heard of the television show, but put me on hold while she asked her supervisor. She came back on the line to tell me that it is the chop house, and then added, "But sir, you know that Hell's Kitchen isn't a real restaurant, right?" I appreciate that the Red Rock is concerned about my ability to differentiate between fiction and reality. I'll remember that when I go to their pool and can't figure out where all the half-naked models are, the ones I see cavorting (that's right, cavorting) on their commercials.

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

If you don't know me very well, here is a small window into who I am. One, I love sushi. Two, I love robots.

So why does this disgust me so deeply? I guess I was hoping for something a lot cooler, like the one in Runaway that Tom Selleck orders from, the one that says (with a horribly un-PC accent), "You want sushi? HA HA HA!"

Now that would be cool.

Your chance to do the Hump

Silly. Juvenile. Wrong. And yet, funny. If you own a Hummer, check out this site to see if anyone has violated it recently.

And by the way, especially if you own a Hummer, go see An Inconvenient Truth. I saw it last weekend, and I thought it was very interesting. It is fascinating that there are still people out there who doubt global warming. Maybe the sand smells nice?

Not fun

Among the many things you don't want to hear from the train operator on the way home, when the train is stopped and the doors are closed:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the delay...the police should be here shortly."

iPod, take me away.

Good shake

Felt a good-sized shake last night when a 4.4 quake hit north of the City. We get little trembles now and then, most indistinguishable from the train or a big truck going by outside. However, this one was a little more than that. It started light, but then went up a notch so our bookcases started shaking for a couple seconds, and then got even heavier for a few more seconds, and then finally went away.

It was that second crescendo that got me nervous; a little shake now and then, okay. But when it lasts for a while (in retrospect, ten seconds isn't that long, but when you are in the middle of it, and you don't know if/when it is going to stop, and it is getting stronger...trust me, that ten seconds is l o n g ...), and is getting stronger, that's when I start noticing I'm not wearing shoes and I have only a vague idea of where and how to shut off the gas and water.

Not a good feeling.

And by the way: the cats? Completely useless. I thought they were supposed to feel things coming, but they both were completely normal until it started, and then their tails got all poofed out, they hid in the corner until it was done, and then slunk around all night, all freaked out. Useless.

Casino Express, take me away...

On certain mornings, I am walking to work right when the River Rock Casino Express bus pulls in to pick up loads of lucky people, off to the hills of Sonoma for a day of gambling fun.

On certain mornings, it takes a lot of willpower to keep walking to work.

Hanging out with Barry

We went to another Giants game today; for two people who don't really care for baseball, we've gone to an awful lot of games this season. The picture I took of Barry at bat (with Mike Piazza playing catcher; if that means very little to you, join the club, but the real baseball fans around us seemed to get very excited about it) shows how good the seats were, which is why we go. That, and a good excuse to eat a hot dog. Nice.



One of the best parts is that I did not get sunburned this time, a rare feat for me when I am outdoors, let alone in direct sunlight. However, the sun did manage to bleach some of the hair in my beard white...yeah, that's it...the sun...

I'm drunk and phlegm free!

I had a kid tell me yesterday that it was no big deal that she had been drinking so much cough syrup, because she was "just sippin on sizzurp, you feel me, like Three 6?" I proved my level of hipness by recognizing that, although the words she spoke were in English, I had no idea what she was saying.

Thanks to Wikipedia and YouTube, I now know. I now "feel" her. (And by the way, that's "Academy Award winners Three 6" to you, thank you very much)

When I was in Basic, I remember guys buying cough syrup at the PX so they could get drunk. Those guys were known as "morons." Who knew they were so far ahead of their time?

Road trip...kind of

We needed to get out of the house on Sunday, so we took a drive to San Jose. You may be asking: why San Jose? I am not sure I can answer that, but it was good to get out of the house, and out of the land of fog and actually see the sun again. It is good to remember that "July" and "warm" go together for most of the country.

We did some shopping (specifically for shirts), some eating (we shared the lasagna, and were not impressed...but how much do I love the photo of that guy on their website?), and even got the baby cleaned (they even took out the mats and washed them...nice!).

Good day. Not an exciting day, but a good one.

Brendon to Breakers, part two

Here I am with my brother and uncle running the Bay to Breakers 12K. My smile was purely camera-driven, I can assure you.

I finally figured out how to scan photos with my printer. Like many other features on my Mac, it is so ridiculously simple that I was over-thinking it and didn't try the easiest solution first. Damn you, William of Ockham.

Damn you, Poindexter!

I enjoy Tim Busfield as an actor.

I did NOT enjoy losing to Tim's pocket Queens in poker.

The guys and the Mus aren't clapping along in my head anymore, Tim.