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We headed home that night and sat around the house most of the day sunday. I had a little work i had to get done for today, but we still had time to run out to dinner with Jen's father. We headed to Cafe Bizu in old town and had a nice quite dinner. I bit torrented all the missed shows after dinner and Jen and I caught up on everything.
I also heard a little commute trick from a guy here at work. I've been taking Adams across most of LA to get to work. He had claimed that if you make your way down to Exposition or Rodeo, you can cut another 10 minutes off the drive. Well, its no bullshit. I've cut my drive to a little bit less of a pain in the ass. I've finally figured out ways to get around just about everything short of a 4 lane blocking accident.
On that note, and in Darren's honor, i must name the Ass-Clown of the day.
Driving south on Figeroa, i was going about 25 miles per hour and decelerating as i approach a stop light. I'm in the left lane, and this Staples truck is in the right lane. He's almost at a complete stop, but then suddenly he realizes that his lane is not to his liking. NO signal, no warning, no brain. He jerks the steering wheel over to the left and hits the gas. Meanwhile i am directly NEXT TO HIM. Not behind him, not speeding up fast on him, not anywhere i shouldn't be. I'm just in the path of a fuckin ass-clown. So i check my mirrors QUICKLY and realize that there is nobody behind me in either lane. I slam on my brakes and drop over in the right lane. Snap the ass-clown's picture.
Sorry guys, i built the thing on a 733 MAC and tested it on a 2.8 P4. Its not all about CPU speed here. Flash is really really really dependent on the video card of your computer.
"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other human invention in history... ...with the possible exception of handguns and tequila"
-Mitch Ratcliffe
AND...
If a cow and a half and a calf and a half can eat a bale and a half of hay in a day and a half, how many waffles does it take to shingle a dog house?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
--Joe Simpson
(speaking of his daughter Ashlee)
Then today on the way into work i found the lucky ass clown of the day. Now this one gets the award for 2 very distinct reasons. I turn onto La Cienega and this ass clown is in front of me in the left turn lane. She goes into the middle lane upon finishing her turn, and i go into the left lane. I begin to speed up, but then it seems that the middle lane is not exactly what she had in mind. So no signal, and very slowly she just creeps almost right into the side of my car. So i slow down now and am behind her. So now while i'm behind her i notice the 2nd reason she's an ass clown. She's got an american flag sticker in her back window. Now there are very specific rules for the display of the Flag of the United States of America, and all international flags. The side of a vehicle like a plane is always the one that cracks me up. You actually display a decal of the american flag flying from right to left (with the stars on the right) when its on a certain side of the plane. BUT you only display the flag upsidedown if you are in distress.
Sec 8 A of the US Flag code - # The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
So this assclown has a very pretty american flag sticker on her window. Its not just a plain rectangular sticker. It looks like the flag is waving in the wind. BUT its upside down. WTF can't you even put a sticker on your SUV correctly?
Jen and I went down to San Clemente over the weekend to go to a little party Kim and Russel were throwing at their new house. We headed down a little early to have dinner with Anne and Darren and then headed to the party. We ended up spening the night at Anne and Darren's house and then headed home in the morning.
Sunday should have been the day that i got shit done, but like a lazy sack of shit, i did only a couple things. We finally got our Xmas cards done at least.
Then the week hit. I've not really been able to catch up since. I wanted to take Thursday off, but now there's no way in hell to do that. I've got banner production galore scheduled and i'm not going to get it done til late Thursday. Looks like i'm gonna be XMAS shopping all day Friday. fun fun fun.
I feel sick.
Subject: Out of Control: The Sequel
From: - "Mark Pesce"
Date: - Mon, December 20, 2004 6:35 am
We got up the next morning and opened our presents to each other. Jen scored well with a GPS receiver for me. I had seen the credit card purchase on the statement, but it didn't say WHAT the item was. I just saw REI, and was puzzled what the fuck Jen would buy for me there. I'm happy cause i've got a new tech toy to play around with. So i popped batteries in the new GPS and we headed to her father's again to catch a ride down to the beach.
The traffic down to San Clemente was non existent. We made incredible time and found ourselves at Dick's house before noon. We promptly unwrapped horderves and plopped our butts down on the deck overlooking the ocean. The rest of the country seems to be in a bit of a snowstorm, but we're sitting at the beach out in the sun. Bill and Brad were both there also having a good time. We got to run over to Bill's new house to check it out. He just got it and is moving in in a few days. Brad had brought a little XMAS gift for himself. A HUGE tinker-toy-like rollercoaster tower. You put a few rubber balls into it, and a air blower will launch the balls to the top where they run through a set of paths. Brad had been working on it for almost 20 hours and was still not finished with it. I helped him out with a few of the last pieces and we got the thing up and running. Brad's kids and the kids from next door both went nuts with it. So we also took a walk on the beach and got all the way down to lowers. By the time we got down there it was really low tide. All the rock bottom was exposed, but there were still tons of people out in the lineup. I actually saw a lot of people out in the lineup at Uppers paddling all the way down to lowers instead of having to come in on the rocks and walk the beach. We headed back to the house and i watched the last couple minutes of the Lakers game. :( We had a great dinner thanks to Martha with about 15 people at the table. 16 including Aspen who was under the table the whole time grabbing anything that dropped. Martha and Dick had also invited their neighbors over to have dinner with us. Their two kids were playing THUG2, but couldn't get online with the PS2. So after dinner i did a little tech support, and got my fix of THUG2 for a couple minutes. The best thing about the PS2 they have is the fact that its connected to a Dell 30 inch flat panel display. I just about shit myself when i saw it.
After the little tech support, we all just sat around and talked. We hit the road a little before 8 and didn't hit a whole lot of traffic on the way home. Jen and I were dead tired by the time we drove ourselves back from Arcadia, and we went to bed almost immediately. I am so happy we had today to recuperate.
I slept most of the day, but took a little time to run over to the store to get a bunch of digital pictures printed. I picked a little over 60, most of which i'm giving to David to put in one of his MANY photo albums. He got two more yesterday, and one of them is already full. I'm gonna give him most of the pictures that i printed to fill up the other one.
Jen and I just sat around other than run to the store. We cooked dinner and just had a quiet day at home.
back to the grind tomorrow.
Its a set of single shots from movies with the actors all pulled out. You have to identify the movie just by the character's clothing and scene. LOADS of fun, but will reduce productivity close to ZERO. We had 5 guys earlier crowded around one monitor trying to identify em all. There are still a good number that i have not identified sucsessfully, but i'm still working.
MC 900 Foot Jesus - Killer Inside Me you probably see me hanging around im a very familliar face in this town a day doesnt go by i dont meet alot of my friends walking down the street im never too busy to stop by the way and i always have something pleasant to say maybe some perceptive thoughts about the weather or other ladies' news from wall street. whenever i can stand around all day making small talk blocking the sidewalk tying people up for hours at ease one big town i can shoot in the breeze when they start to squirm i really get going but only my half-face smile is showing why cant they see what im trying to hide im busting the gut blabbing on the inside sing this song when they say hello i can see they think im a little bit slow but after awhile with me in a daze their eyes are covered in a doughnut glaze i really start to cook when i see that look i hit 'em with every cliche in the book their knees whobble and they start to weave its like they're begging for permission to leave they think they're having a brush with stupidity i dont laugh - even though its killing me watching 'em wilt like day-old flowers ticking off the minutes as they turn to hours they're wondering how much more they can take i give 'em a friendly smile and a handshake we say goodbye very politely now say hello to the killer inside me (drop it) Everyone has their doubts about my sanity but nothing happens cause they feel sorry for me i got the whole town under my thumb all i gotta to do is keep acting dumb oh that boy there, they say, wanna die alittle on the slow side but wouldnt hurt a fly and such a gentleman - oh yes i know sure cant talk at you all though i take my hat and pretend i dont hear grinning like a half-wit from ear to ear i can think of a thousand ways to say hello so i start through 'em all goin' real slow they listen hard and act like they care how can they be so completely unaware of the truth the answer is always in hiding so i introduce 'em to the killer inside me (feel the blast)
But today was great on the drive in. The 110 moved slow, but never stopped, the 10 moved slow but never stopped, but i wasn't going to push my luck and try for the 405. I got off the freeway at Robertson and made my way down to culver. I got to work in 30 minutes and i never went faster than 60.
Jen and I went to Maison Akira for dinner on New Years Eve. Jen's father had made the reservation and we were not going to turn him down on this one. It was a 4 course meal including wine selected for each course. The only thing i was worried about was the fact that the resaurant is one block away from Colorado Blvd. I figured all the parking lots would already be packed and we'd have to walk for miles or pay an arm and a leg. Instead we found parking on the street about a block away, before we'd even tried to park in their lot. Jen's father showed up and pulled right into the lot with no problem. Meanwhile we still saw signs for parking up to $50 overnight.
Anyway, the meal was incredible. First course for me was the Sashimi, second the Sea Bass, and third the Kobe Steak. All in all you can't ask for anything more.
We headed home after dinner and didn't do ANYTHING at all. When midnight rolled around i was sitting in front of the TV flipping channels, and Jen was in the bathroom getting ready for bed. Really exciting.
