The Big Trip: Last Stop, ABQ

After the caverns, we drove to Albuquerque to visit my b-i-l and his wife. They have a nice house in the Sandia foothills, just south of the tram. It's great for watching the thunderstorms over the mesa below.

They took two days to play with us. The first day we drove out towards Bandelier National Monument. Before getting there, we drove through some beautiful mountains and went to Jemez State Monument. I think its biggest claim to fame is that it is across the street from where many catholic bishops send their pedophile priests.

The cool thing about Bandelier is that the Native Americans built homes against the lava ash cliffs and they dug caves into the cliffs. There are the remains of the homes that they built over 1,000 years ago. The rooms have many petroglyphs and several of the structures have been restored. Our ranger had been there through the 70s and decided to tell us everything she knew about the place. Even the HB was hoping she would talk less so that we could talk more. Having said that, I forgot to mention that our guide at Carlsbad Caverns was awesome. We had a small group (less than 20) and he clearly had a passion for caves.

After Badelier, we looped around to have an early dinner in Santa Fe. IMHO, Santa Fe is a a 36 hour town. I'm not much of a shopper, and I don't need to look at an entire museum of Georgia O'Keefe paintings to realize that she liked cow skulls and to paint flowers so that they look like vaginas. Since this was the third time I've been there (and have more than extinguished the 36 hours), I'm glad that all we did was grab dinner (awesome spinach enchiladas in red chile sauce) then headed back to ABQ.

Thursday, it was time to get some gambling in. So, after breakfast we went to the Route 66 casino. The big draw there was that they have a great kids area. So, we parked the HB there for a bit (don't feel bad for him--they had arcade and video games, including Rock Band) and hit the tables.

I played blackjack for 30 minutes and didn't lose a hand. My wife and I sat down and played pai-gow poker. This time, I think I lost one hand. So, my winnings covered her losings, the HB's time at the kid center and lunch for the five of us. Woot!

From the casino we went to Acoma. Driving onto the reservation, it's clear that they have reinvested their casino profits well. We saw many new houses, youth centers, schools, and a very fancy visitor center/museum.

These people really know how to market. Everything cost extra, including a permit to take pictures. I guess spirits are for sale. Every step of the way there was someone selling pottery.

Here's what I don't get. Like most of the Indian villages, things were going OK, then the Spaniards got there, said, "Accept our god, or else" and gave the natives the "or else." After being enslaved to build a church on their sacred land they eventally accepted christianity. The Spaniards eventually leave (after killing off 90% of the natives and leaving the rest impovershed), yet they remain catholics (our guide crossed himself with holy water when we entered and left the church). Why in the world would you continue bow to the god that brought you so much misery? However, this gave me the opportunity to talk to the HB about how when people with god and weapons encounter people with neither, it's a bad thing for the latter.

So, since the Acoma's are so strict about pictures (and, believe me, the views from up there are amazing), here are some for you (not taken by me). Though, I did sneak in one of some road runner-coyote rock formations.






Every now and then you'll hear arguments in the sports world about whether teams should have Native American mascots. I noticed that one of the cars on Acoma had a Washington Redskins license plate (our guide hates the Dallas Cowboys, and is a bit of a San Diego Chargers fan since he was stationed there). When I asked him about this he replied, "You know, I don't really care...they're fake Indians."

We got back to my b-i-l's house and watched Obama's speech on TiVo and got packed up. At that moment, I was glad that we flew instead of drove, because after 1600 miles in the car during the last week, an 800 mile drive back to LA would have sucked. We said our goodbyes the next morning and caught the short, if bumpy, flight back home.

It was an awesome trip. I hope that the HB remembers it.

The Big Trip: Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns always struck me as a stereotypical family trip. It's in the middle of fucking nowhere. It's in New Mexico, but it's closer to El Paso than Albuquerque in distance and geography. I can imagine the kids fighting while the family's driving across the desert, the AC barely keeping the temperature below 80.

All the towns around boom and bust with the oil and gas business, but the latest boom didn't seem to have caught up yet. There were lots of trailers in the brush and it looked like ground zero for meth labs.

We pulled into town late, so we missed the bats flying out of he cave. But, we did eat at Chili's, the nicest restaurant in town. While we were there, we had quite the in-depth conversation with the HB about steroids and why they are harmful and make the users cheaters.

A few years ago we had gone to the Crystal Cave at Sequoia National Park. The rooms were pretty big and the marble rock had a stream running through it which led to some stunning colors. Geologically, the Carlsbad caves are very different. This meant no great colors, but the rooms were HUGE--some 200 ft tall. This picture won't do it justice, but will give you an idea. By the way, these two formations don't quite touch. A bit of a frustrated kiss.



Besides missing the bats, there were other trails that we didn't have a chance to hike, so I would definitely go back next time we're in ABQ. The Days Inn in town was relatively new, quiet (despite all of the oil workers drinking beer in the parking lot) and had a warm pool.

Their First Big Choice

I'm going to interrupt the travelogue for some politics.

The first meaningful decision a presidential candidate makes (in the eyes of the voters, at least) is choosing his VP. Let's be honest, almost no one votes for a ticket based on the veep. Per the constitution, the vice-president's only duties are to serve as a tie-breaking vote in the senate and to take the president's place in case he's incapacitated or killed. Of course, choosing someone you can work with should also be part of the equation. The senate duties are a technicality in that the VP takes his marching orders from the prez. However, choosing the next in succession is serious business. For latter, the choice should indicate who the nominee feels is the next best person in the party to step in.

For Obama, Clinton would appear to have been the next best to step in. However, she clearly failed the working together test. Of the remaining choices of people who seemed to be interested in being president, either Richardson or Biden would have fit the bill and both have the foreign policy experience that he lacks. The downside for Obama is that both undercut his "new way of doing business" message.

McCain has clearly gone the Bush I route to pick someone obscure to mollify the conservative base. Sarah Palin is no more (or less) qualified to be VP than Dan Quayle was. However, in that year Dukakis chose the august Lloyd Bentsen to be his running mate, and that didn't work out so well for the democrats.

McCain can't seriously think that she is the second most qualified republican to be president, a particular concern as he would be 72 when he's sworn in and has a history of cancer. Hell, she's not even the most qualified republican woman to be president (see Olympia Snowe and Elizabeth Dole, for instance). And it's not like winning Alaska is going to make or break the election. He clearly feels that by choosing her he can attract the anti-choice Hillary supporters (all 12 of them) and burnish his conservative bona fides. And, she knows a lot about polar bears.

This obviously shows that McCain's first big decision was driven by politics and not the future good of the country. Then again, elections are all about winning. And, we've had some pretty good accidental presidents (Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman).

The Big Trip: Capulin Volcano

After a good dinner, and a couple of beers, we headed down I-25 to Raton, at the CO-NM border. What this description papers over was that Raton Pass was a big trading route and in the late 1800's, this dude who owned the land there put up a toll booth and charged $1.50 for goods and people to pass. A pretty good business. The city fathers are still at it as they were able to get the last (for a while) casino licence in NM.

Raton was a good stopping place for two reasons. One, is that it is more or less halfway between Boulder and our big destination (Carlsbad Caverns). Second, there's a very cool volcano (no pun intended) nearby.

The Capulin volcano has two main hiking trails. The first is around the top and is roughly 1 mile in circumference. The other is a short, but steep, trail that leads to where the vent was. The great thing about the former is that you can see all across New Mexico, even into Oklahoma. You can also see the ridges in the land where the lava flowed when Capulin blew its top. Apparently, the NM lava fields cover an area the size of Massachusetts (poor HB had to LEARN on his vacation).

After the volcano, we grabbed some lunch and then headed to Carlsbad.

The Big Trip: The Tornado

So, just as the democrats are getting ready for their hoo-rah in Denver, we're driving to the burbs south of the city to have dinner at a micro brewery ('natch) with our vacation buddies and their kids. On the way there, I notice some very dark clouds to the east. No biggie, summer thunder storms are de riguer in these parts. Then I notice a funnel coming out of one of them and point it out to the wife and the HB as we just do not get those in LA.

Slowly, but surely it made its way to the ground.



People were pulling off the road to take pictures, videos. The one above was taken from near our friends' house. Apparently, it did a bunch of damage. No more shit about earthquakes, k?

So, as this bad boy was finishing up, we drove to dinner, first through hail, then through biblical rain. It was great hanging with them for a couple of hours as we really didn't get the chance to at the lake house. The irony being that I'll see the dad this weekend for our fantasy football draft and the UCLA-Tennessee game.

One thing that struck me about this part of CO was the whiteness. Between Boulder and Denver, I don't remember seeing an Asian, African-American or Hispanic. When we split the tab at the restaurant, the waitress couldn't quite get it right, so she apologized for it being so "ghetto", as if she'd been in one. From this and conversations with out friends, I got the sense it was a white christians only kinda place. Obviously, the tornado was taking care of the sinners.

The Big Trip: The Lake House

Ah...back in LA. It's nice to feel the sea breeze after a week.

The trip was better than expected. I kept my expectations low given the amount of car time, packing and unpacking, etc. But most everything went great. The HB's always been a good traveler, and he was quite the trooper this go around.

I had plenty of wifi, but not much time to post, so here's what happened (in multiple installments).

LA to Denver was no problem. It's just that DIA is so huge that everything takes for fucking ever. And the wife insisted on checking our bags. But, we got our car (and upgraded to a Sebring with satellite radio) and got to our friends' place in Boulder at 10pm.

I've known Louis since junior high school. He and Reggie have been married for, oh, probably 20 years now and have lived in CO for the last 15. They have a boy who's a year younger than the HB and a girl who's about 18 months older. We've gotten together with them in CA before, so there were no problems with the kids. Louis is a physical therapist by training, eventually got an MBA and now runs an orthopedict surgery practice. Reggie was a middle manager for a big hardware company, took a huge buyout and now works for a middle sized consulting company. They live the full-on Boulder lifestyle in that they bike, ski, play tennis, etc. They'd been asking us to come to CO forever, so I finally convinced the wife that we should do it.

They have a house near Lake Granby. And when I say a house, I don't mean some dusty two bedroom shack they visit twice a year. It's a 5 bedroom, 5 bath place that they lived in for a year while Louis was finishing up his distance MBA. It's a good thing it was so big because two other sets of friends came. One was our vacation buddies and their kids. The other was a recently divorced buddy (another guy I've known since high school) and his kids. Despite loving to party when she was younger, his ex-decided that god was more important than her husband. Both of his boys have varying degrees of Asberger's syndrome. The older one who is going into high school seems to either have a better handle on it or fewer obvious symptoms. The younger one, who is 12 seems to have a heavy dose in that he's socially immature, ruminates about everything and seems to be missing the editor between his brain and his mouth. He's a good kid, but, sheesh, can he talk.

So, we all got out to the lake house around lunch time on Saturday. We went horseback riding (I think I was on Valium, the wife was on Xanax, etc.) and hiking around. Reggie made a great dinner, the kids had a good time and the adults put away the booze. Good times.

Sunday morning a batch of us when fishing (no luck) while the first crew went on the boat for some skiing/tubing. They had quite the tubing contraption in that it was a mini inflatable sofa that sat 3. You could not wipe the smiles off of the kids' faces when they were on it (I'm sure that I was the same way). The HB managed to get flung out of it, but got right back on.

After getting back fromthe water, we ate some lunch and went up to Grand Lake. The highest elevation natural lake in the US (woohoo). Since our vacation buddies headed out early, we wanted to get an early start to have dinner with them before the first of our big drives.

Bunking Down in ABQ

After another 300 mile driving day, we're at my b-i-l's in ABQ. We had a great day at the Carlsbad Caverns (I'll post pics when I get home). What a fucking amazing place.

It'll be nice to sleep in the same place for 3 nights in a row.

More travel notes when I have the chance.

Mid-Travel Update

Just have a couple of minutes, but here's the update:

Granby Lake was awesome. The kids had a great time and being with so many great friends was awesome.

We barely dodged the tornadoes outside of Denver. Did get hailed on. The HB was suitably impressed by the hole thing.

Northwest New Mexico is FAR prettier than Southwest NM (where we are now). If this isn't the meth capital of the country, we're not far from it.

Off to the Carlsbad Caverns tomorrow, then ABQ.

Olympic Cheaters

So, you're saying to yourself, "Which Olympic athletes are most likely to get caught doping at the games?" Weightlifters? Shotputters? Nope, it's the horses in the equestrian competition. I hate cheating horses.

Taking a Trip

Next week I may be even more sporadic than usual as we're getting ready to take a family trip. Note that if you travel with the kids or are visiting family, it's a trip, not a vacation.

We're flying to Denver, then driving to Boulder to say with friends. For the rest of the weekend we're going to be at their lake house with 2 other families. These are all people I've known for 20+ years, including our vacation buddies. There will be plenty of kids the HB's age as well.

Sunday evening (all the other kids have to go to school on Monday) we're gonna start a looooooooong drive to Carlsbad, NM. We'll stop near the CO/NM border for the night. The next morning we'll check out the Capulin Volcano before continuing to Carlsbad.

We have reservations to go on a ranger led tour of Carlsbad Caverns. We've been to some cool caves in Sequoia National Park, but we're really looking forward to this. After that, we'll head towards Albuquerque (with the obligatory stop in Roswell) and try to get there in the evening. It's going to be 3 serious days of driving. But, we have the audio books, DVD player, etc. Plus, it's new (to us) scenery, so it shouldn't be too bad.

I'll check in when I can.

Snarky Olympics

One of the great things about NBC showing so much Olympic coverage is that I almost never have to watch gymnastics. However, I do have a couple of suggestions when they show it:

When they show stats on the gymnasts, especially from the U.S., they should also show how many times the participant's parents had to refinance the house so their pixie could by just the right outfit, just the right coach and travel to just the right competitions. Want a great female Olympic story, here it is.

I saw some trampoline (!) competition whizz by. What's next? 3-legged race? Egg toss? That the Olympics would keep that and give baseball and softball the boot is beyond me.

Obviously, their looks have no impact on their ability to do their jobs, but it appears that NBC is hiring its female talent from the Ford agency. I dunno...maybe the female readers have a different opinion. But, ladies (and gay/bi men), stud alert--men's kayaking.

I'm looking forward to more track and field finals tonight.

The field hockey is fun to watch, if for no other reason that the players have weapons, but no helmets. Lacrosse is going to have to lose the headgear if they want back in.

The international players are back in awe of the U.S. men's basketball team. They are just KILLING people. I don't see any more games being closer than 25 points.

Religion in the Public Square

I am not anti-religion. I couldn't care less which equally ridiculous creation story you believe in, as long as you don't force your enlightenment on others via the barrel of a gun (or other instrument of violence).

The fact of the matter is that we live in a christian country and there are significant number of people (though not the majority of voters) who vote for president based on which candidates flavor of christianity is perceived to be closest to their own. So, I applauded when mega-church pastor Rick Warren decided to have both Obama and McCain over for a chat (Bob Barr sued, and lost, to be invited to this nominally private event). This gave both candidates a chance to answer questions that christian conservatives supposedly care about. For McCain, it was a chance to burnish is anti-abortion bona fides (more about that later) and for Obama to espouse his faith to the 'true' believers.

The candidates were true to form. Obama gave longer answers which were either more nuanced or showed a lack of conviction (depending on how you feel about Obama) and McCain was more glib and went to his frequently used quotes. There are some who feel that McCain also may have had an advantage of going on after Obama.

For you pro-choice Hillz supporters who are thinking of not voting for Obama, I've got this for you:

Asked at what point he believes life begins, McCain immediately said: “At the moment of conception.”

“I will be a pro-life president and this presidency will have pro-life policies,” he said, after receiving thunderous applause.

Just saying.

Elsewhere, there was an interesting CA supreme court ruling about a doctor's right to not provide services (in this case, non-emergency artificial insemination) to people who's lifestyle conflicts with their religious beliefs (in this case, the doctor claims it's because the woman's not married, when it reality it's probably because she's gay). The court says that the doctor cannot discriminate as to whom she provides services based on sexual orientation. The case can now go to trial.

If the doctor is accepting state money to provide the services (and the LA Times article does not specifically mention this) or worked in a state facility, then I agree with the court. If the woman was going to pay through private insurance or out of her own pocket and the doctor is in private practice, the doctor should have the right to refer her to another provider. I don't see how in an non-emergency situation that doesn't involve public money that the rights of the person seeking treatment trumps those of the person providing it.

Class and Grace

I (finally) caught up on Friday's late night Olympics coverage of DVR today. One of the best parts was the interview with Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz. Why Spitz isn't at the Olympics is beyond me. He's only one of the two greatest male Olympic swimmers in our history.

Some record holders who lose their crowns are nonplussed while others are pricks about it. Spitz could not have been more gracious in the interview. He didn't damn Phelps with faint praise, nor did he diminish his own accomplishments or patronize Phelps with insincere self-deprecation. I don't know if the interview is being streamed on the NBC Sports website (I'd go there now, but it would spoil tonight's events for me since it's all on 3 hour delay here in LA), but you can read a transcript here.

It's hard to lose something that you value with grace. When we have something we like or treasure we think that we are going to have it forever. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. After tonight, Michael Phelps may take away a record from Mark Spitz. But, last night, Spitz showed displayed character that can never be taken away.

.01 Seconds to Greatness

The HB made it back yesterday. He had a great time and he claims that he got some sleep (but was vague about when his slumber started). It was fun hanging with him yesterday and we talked a bit about what we wanted to do tonight.

If you're interested, you know by now that Michael Phelps tied Mark Spitz's record of 7 gold medals at a single Olympics by winning the 100 meter butterfly by .01 seconds. How he completed a stroke while the Milorad Cavic was reaching for the wall is beyond me.

Before the race Cavic, who's apparently a slow learner despite being a Berkeley grad, said that it would be good for swimming if Phelps didn't win the 8 golds. Why on earth would he piss Phelps off? Didn't he learn anything from the French? You can also throw Cavic into the sore loser category with this quote (from the NY Times), “If we got to do this again, I would win it.” Uh-huh.

Phelps has one more race, the team 4x100 medley relay (he'll swim the 100 butterfly). It's a race the US has never lost in the Olympics.

Bachelor Livin'

So far, so good. No homesick calls from the HB and the wife had dinner with a friend of ours from when we lived in Boston.

My thinking for dinner was, "Hm...what can I make that neither my wife or the HB will eat?" The answer: very spicy seafood jambalaya. And I had a secret ingredient: one of the HOT Thai peppers my friend brought me the other day. By HOT I mean remembering washing my hands a couple of times before taking a leak, even an hour after cutting them and washing my hands about 100 times.

I had a late conference call with my Hong Kong client (while the jambalaya was in the oven), then started going through the Olympic DVR backlog. Bummer about Amanda Beard not even qualifying for the semis in her event.

I was talking to someone about Olympic basketball, and I made some comment about no one from the World Champion Celtics (typing that makes me want to puke) being on any of the teams. His retort was that the Olympics was the true world championship because there were teams representing countries. That's a typical European nationalistic view of the world. There probably aren't any players on a non-NBA team that could start in the NBA. Why do I say that? Because the NBA scouts the Euro/Asian leagues and pays the best players enough money for them to come here. Are there some NBA players signing in Europe? Of course there are, just like ther are major league baseball players who play in Japan. Are they starting players? No. The exception to this rule might be high school players who choose not to play for one year in college.

So, what determines the best team in the world? The best team a country can put together or the best team made up of players from a variety of countries? I can see the argument for the former, but the latter is the truest test.

I'd be remiss if I didn't wish Jen a happy birthday.

Bachelor Plus

This morning my wife caught a 7 am flight to Boston through Sunday. At 8:10 am, the bus will pick up the HB for camp where he is staying overnight until I pick him up at 4:15 on Friday. So, it's 28 hours of a quiet house. I'm very psyched.

On a more serious note, Russia has found a good excuse to show its ass in Georgia. OK, Georgia pretty much started it by trying to put down the pro-Russian separatists in South Ossetia. So, Russia decides to, well, put down their ex-separatists. Their incursion is clearly a message to all of the ex-Soviet republics (or those who want to be) that Chechnya was an aberration and they better watch themselves.

Hanging w/My Bro

I finally got my brother to come up my way from our parents' yesterday. He came up for lunch (we grabbed some Mex) and I got him going on Guitar Hero (I knew he'd like it). The HB was a little bummed that he didn't get to teach him, but that's life.

He stayed for dinner and he, the HB and I hopped into the jacuzzi for a while. The HB really likes hanging with him, so it was pretty cool.

My brother's catching a red-eye tonight, so he and my parents will come up here for dinner and I'll take him to the airport (probably 3 hours before his flight since he acts like such an old man).

Dear Olympic Advertisers

I've always thought that one of the DVR companies should use the advertising line, "Make TV your bitch." That's no truer than during the Olympics. I've put a lot of stuff on DVR and have seen more events than I thought that I would.

To the advertisers, I have NO idea who you are. Pespi or Coke? Chevy, Dodge, Range Rover? Tide or All? I have no fucking idea. I'm sure that you paid a ton of money for the spots just wanted to let you know that it's completely wasted on me and probably a lot of other people like me. If I'm one of your investors, I'm thinking twice about your decision to spend this money in 2010 in British Columbia or 2012 in London.

I wonder what would be the percentage reduction in price of the products that are advertised if they weren't.

Edwards and the Tabloids

There's nothing I can say about John Edwards than has already been written. It's just good to keep in mind that while there are 'perfect' ideas (and I'm not saying that his are) there are no perfect messengers of them. But, now we know why he wasn't under serious consideration for VP.

Olympic Fever

I LOVE the Olympics. Sure, I HATE how NBC covers it in prime time (more about avoiding that in a minute) and I don't care for gymnastics, which seems to dominate the coverage. But I do enjoy watching some sports on an every four years basis, like swimming and track, and the drama is tough to beat.

Watching the Olympics is THE reason to have a DVR. NBC paid a ton a dough for the rights and they can't make that back in advertising if they are only appealing to sports fans. So, they do everything they can to keep the non-sports fans watching, which means showing less competition, so they can sell more Tide.

However, since they paid a king's ransom, they want to show as much as possible, which they are doing on their other networks (e.g., MSNBC, Universal HD, USA, Oxygen, etc.) and two special channels that show only basketball and soccer. If you go to http://www.nbcolympics.com/tv_and_online_listings/index.html and enter your cable/satellite and zipcode information, you can see where these channels are (on DirecTV in LA they are channels 750-756). The coverage on the non-NBC channels have far fewer commercials and show a particular competition from start to finish. They also show some off-beat (to most Americans) sports, like badminton and fencing. With the time difference you can watch a lot of competition and, more importantly, its in the sports you want to see. Very cool. Oh, and there's other events that you can stream off of the website.

It was nice last night to see Michael Phelps cruise to a world record in the 400 IM. That dude is amazing.

In other sports news, the Angels laid into the Yankees again last night. Hopefully they'll complete the sweep today.

Going Out in Style

While the wife and I have planned for retirement in a financial sense, we really haven't done much about the nuts and bolts of it. Are we going to live in this house? Get a condo on the beach or in the city? Will actually finally quit work or just putz around part-time? I know that she wants to retire as soon as possible and be done with work. At some point I would like to just slow down and take on fewer projects. But, when the HB's done with college (note the optimism) we'll probably have a better sense of these things.

I bring this up because we went to a retirement party last night for the husband of a good friend of mine from Rotary. Interesting guy in that he was truly a child of the 60s. He was an Eagle scout, surfer/stoner, joined the peace corps and did two tours and had a career as a teacher. He's one of those guys who comes off as cranky and cynical, where in reality he has a very big heart and is cynical. A guess working in a huge bureaucracy helps you keep the cynical part.

We ate and drank a bunch and met some cool people. I chatted with the guest of honor some and asked the inevitable question, "So, what are you going to do now?" He was pretty drunk, but the gist of things was that he's got a fat government job pension, so they have no money worries. His wife is 15 years younger and she make beautiful pottery, so their schedule is flexible enough so that they can travel. As he was in the peace corps and she's a Thai native, they LOVE to go places. He gardens (they frequently give us lemon grass, Thai peppers and Thai basis) and loves to read. So, I'd say they pretty much have a good head start on spending the next several years.

I look at how my parents spend their retirement and it seems OK. They do a big trip every year or so (they're going to cruise around the Baltic Sea later this month) and they are involved in their temple. My mom reads once a week at a local school and my dad plays a lot of computer solitaire and babysits his investments online. On the weekends they frequently have dinner with friends and they have a great social network.

Boredom in retirement is a bigger fear to me than poor health or lack of money. Perhaps that's why I figure I'll keep working some even after my wife calls it quits. I really enjoy what I do and it's not physically difficult work. I keep telling myself that I'll get more involved in philanthropic work and travel more, but who knows. Do I have enough hobbies that I'll be able to do when I'm older? Are there enough things that my wife and I will want to do together and separately?

Apparently, a little more planning is in order.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

My friend who's a new daddy is going to let me use his Angel tickets (against the Yankees tonight). I called my brother and told him that I was "able to get" the tickets. For someone who went to Angel games when they couldn't even draw 10,000 people, that's an amazing clause to use. So, me, my bro, the wife and the HB are going to go. I hope that there aren't too many Yankee fans being assholes out there. When I went a few weeks ago, the Red Sox fans were pretty well behaved.

On a domestic note, I got my kitchen knives sharpened. I tried to do it myself and completely fucked it up (fortunately, no blood was spilled in the process). So, I got a repair place to do it for $19 (note to Lola...they charge by the inch, so you know you're getting your money's worth, heh.).

Fun weekend coming up. Going to a retirement party for a really fun dude on Saturday, and get to play dress up for a YMCA fund raiser on Sunday. It's a very fancy progressive dinner hosted by several hotels that want to out do each other. I'll be seriously stuffed and buzzed by the time that's over.

So, Have We Got the Terrorists Yet?

Yesterday a US attorney tried a dead man in the court of public opinion while a military court found Osama bin Laden's driver guilty, but not on all counts. Of course, W has not intention of letting him out of Gitmo, so it doesn't really matter, except now the administration can say, "See, we had a trial and it didn't completely go our way." No word on whether ObL's mechanic or dry cleaner will be charged.

The problem with Bush's war on terror is how poorly executed it is. His argument is that we need to give up some liberties and portions of the Constitution to catch the bad guys. But, in general, when the government goes after the bad guys, it's either the wrong ones (see Steven Hatfill in the anthrax case) or they get their asses handed in court by having to accept either plea-bargains or sentences for lesser charges. This is not to say that they haven't had any moderate successes, but I don't think their track record warrants what they are asking for.

So, rest well America. The little fish are getting what they deserve.

Favre Stays in Green

Brett Favre got what he wanted. Sort of. Will he play football in 2008? Yes. Did he get his starting job back with Green Bay. No. Did he get his release so he could sign with a team of (presumably) his choice? No. Did he get traded to Vikings where he wanted to go most? No. Did he get traded to Tampa Bay where they run a similar offense to the Pack's and he's worked with their coaches? No. Now, he's stuck playing with the Jets.

My sense is that the Pack got an equally attractive trade offer from Tampa Bay (reasonably high draft pick next year that could be higher based on Favre's and the team's performance), but they chose to screw him by sending him to a worse team where he would be less likely to be successful. They more or less quietly put up with his retirement dance each year and this year felt like he was really jerking their chain. There was no way they were going to do anything to make his life easier.

Being traded to New York has to gall Favre. Except for the additional media exposure and the money it will bring him, he can't be happy with going to the J-E-T-S, JETS! JETS! JETS! They only have one good receiver in Jerricho Cotchery, who has to think that he had died and gone to heaven. Sure, they made a good free agent move for Alan Faneca on the offensive line, but they're a mess at running back and Favre has to learn a new offense. There's no way in hell they're better than New England, so winning the division is out of the question. Maybe Favre gets them to 9-7 and into the playoffs, but he couldn't win at Lambeau in last year's NFC championship game. What makes you think he can win 3 playoff games, with at least two on the road, to get back to the Super Bowl.

Of course, if we take him at his word that he just wants to play, none of the above should matter. He'll get some serious love from the Jets fans, at first. But, they don't have the same sentiment for him that the cheeseheads do and they'll be on him like snow on tundra if the Jets don't make the playoffs.

New Music

Yesterday, I finally got off my ass and got the new 10 Years CD Division. It's very cool. Their style is recognizable from The Autumn Effect, but not derivative. The songs are well constructed and the guitar work is awesome. I'm so loving it!

My Bro's Back in Town

My brother from Florida is in town for a week. He'll be staying with my folks as he has the extra car there and it's more convenient to his friends.

Hosting him is a pain in the ass because he's so passive. I ask him what he wants to do when he's here and he says, "I dunno." It's the 2nd fucking biggest city in the country. I'm sure you can think of SOMETHING. As such, I refuse to monkey with my schedule. If he calls with an idea, then great, we'll go do it. Otherwise, he can stare at the four walls at my parents for all I fucking care.

We will see him on Friday night. My buddy who has Angel season ticket just became a dad, so maybe he won't be using them for the game against the Yankees. Or, maybe we'll go hear some music.

The HB's looking forward to getting him hooked on Guitar Hero when he stays here. Heh.

Hm....Beer......

I busted our the new brown ale with my fellow home brewer today. It was delish (needs another couple of weeks in the bottle, but that's OK at this point). The beer has a nice hoppy finish since I dry hopped it. My brew buddy requested that we make something maltier next time. I'm good with that. If you know of any good recipes that bring out the malty flavor, please send them my way.

Tonight I made pasta salad for dinner. Weird in that it's usually a summer staple here, but it's the first time I've made it in a while. Nothing too fancy: Rigatoni, zucchini, onions, 3 types of olives, broccoli, and cheese. I made the vinaigrette from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic and molasses. I think I know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow.

Oh, and in the "I told you so" department, the Angels ended up splitting their series with the Yankees (too many errors today). This put them at 7-3 for the trip. They're in first place by 11.5 games over Texas, maintained their best AL record of 2 games over Tampa and increased their lead by 2 additional games over Boston in NY. Not a bad trip at all.

In the marital bliss department, the new sectional couch came in and it is VERY comfy. Better yet, the wife saw things my way and we're not going to get new chairs...probably just get them reupholstered. Whew.

More Cleaning

Ugh...I just found some files with single sheets of paper I would keep for photocopying, y'know, just in case. Off to the big pile for you!

Cleaning Up is Hard To Do

Back in the day, I'd do heavy metal housework. I'd crank some Metallica, Slayer, etc and just scrub my place top to bottom. Today I have some Bad Religion going while I throw out a ton of shit in my office. What's bringing this on? Well, we got a new sectional sofa in the living room, so the old sofa landed in my office. Let the psychologist with a couch in his office jokes begin.

I used to have a smaller sofa in previous offices, but never in this one. I'm not convinced that it's too big. But, for it not to be too big I need to get rid of some stuff, including a full sized filing cabinet.

In this computer age, the filing cabinet has just about lost its usefulness, at least for a practice like mine. I'm going through this stuff and thinking, "Wow, we used to do that on paper!" Lots of tests, reports, statistical output, etc. It's all going to the shredder and/or recycling bin. Some of the shit is so old that I can't believe I kept it this long (btw--I'm not a pack rat). It will be nice to have the extra space. I'm sure I'll blog more as a break.

Sticking Around the House

While the HB was between camps this week, we decided to stick around the house. Don't even use the word "staycation" or my wife will slap you...hard.

Wednesday we grabbed our nephew (and the HB) and went to the fair. I LOVE the fair. The goofy performers, the stick food, getting to see what's hot in unwed mother wear and prison tattoos. It's all good. The boys won some stuff animals, we went on rides that looked unsafe (funny, more people seem to die on Disney rides than on carny ones), saw some Chinese acrobats and took in a hypnotist show. Great fun.

Yesterday, we all (yes, the nephew slept over) went to Universal Studios, mostly to go on the new Simpson's ride. It boggles me how much time we spend at Universal because, quite frankly, there really isn't that much to do there (at least the tickets were Costco cheap). And it's not the lines are that long (I don't think we waited more than 20 min to get on a ride). I guess it's because we do some attractions as well. At any rate, the Simpson's ride is fun and not bad to stand in line for because they show episodes from the show as well as some new stuff. Driving home in rush hour kinda sucked, but was made bearable since the Angels were kicking the shit out of the Yankees (I'll have to blog about the big baseball trades soon).

Today, we all (yes, the nephew continued to sleep over) kinda of hung out (I went to a schmooze and then worked in the morning) then went and saw the 3rd Mummy movie. Why they bother writing dialog for these movies is completely beyond me. And Brendon Fraser must be pretty content with his lot in the actor's life because between this and Journey to the Center of the Earth, he's had to deliver some pretty bad lines. But, he can recite Shakespeare under his breath on the way to the bank.

Tonight we're all gonna Wii (yes, the nephew is STILL here--which is a good thing) and probably watch another movie. This is not prob as the Angeles beat the Yankees again (1-0). Having a couple of drinks and watching a mindless movie (or a bunch of Simpson's episodes) sounds kind of good.