Friday night we started cleaning up to get the house ready. I wired up the speakers and got the party playlist going. The tables and chairs had already been delivered and we just had to wait for the sprinklers to go on in the morning before we set everything up. Jen ran around most of the day on Saturday getting things together. I set up all the backyard and tried as much as i could to stay out of the way. My parents showed up early with party supplies... ice, cooler, flowers for the tables, and pitchers for the drinks. We all were running around like crazy in a last effort to get things in order.
So once everybody showed up things went smoothly. We fired up the grill and started cooking. My father helped out an incredible amount because i'm a complete idiot when it comes to cooking that much. I would have to run back to the kitchen all the time to mix more margaritas, and then run back and try to help out with the grill. It got a bit crazy.
It was great to see everybody, and Jen loved having everybody there. In the mess of everything i took about 10 pictures, all of which were crap. People hung out til about 1AM and Jen and I collapsed quickly after that.
Sunday was spent being LAZY. We went out to Dish in La Canada for breakfast (or lunch really cause of the time). We sat around FOREVER waiting for food. We were not in ANY rush at all, and our waiter constantly was apologizing for the wait. We've had this guy help us out a couple times we've been there, and he's really really nice. Its not his fault, but he still discounted our bill. Trust me... it was worth the wait. The food is great.
Then for the real fun for Jen. We went over to Ethan Allen to look at a couple things for the house. After spending awhile in their showroom we still didn't quite have anything strike us. so we moved on.
We then headed to Old Town Pasadena to go to the Art Store. We've been talking about paintings for the house, and sizes and shapes etc, but we've not done anything. So we ended up buying 5 canvases for various spots in the house and we started planning new paintings.
So after running around we came home and crashed. We didn't get up til about 4 and then got ready again to out. We went over Andrea and Kevin's for a little going away shindig. They're moving to Indianapolis and they can't ship any of their booze... so it was their friends job to clear out their stock. We hung out there for an hour checking out what they've done to their place (its going on the market, and it looks great) then we headed off to the Raymond for dinner.
At dinner Jen and I were both exhausted so we just sat and took our time. Jen couldn't decide on exactly what she wanted, but finally went for a seafood dish that was a stack of 3 different fish with a huge shrimp on top (yes stacked food). I wasn't that hungry so i went for a Seared Tuna that turned out to be perfect.
After dinner Jen suggested we run to the bookstore on Lake ave. Bad move on my part. I went directly to the geek books while Jen was looking for something new to read. O'reilly books are my weakness. Yes fuckin geek... i know. So i end up grabbing the ActionScript pocket reference that i've been meaning to order for awhile, and also "Killer Game Programming in Java". Usually i just open up one of their books and start to look for something relative to my programming knowledge. I open up Game Programming and i find an illustration that describes a 3d to 2d conversion. I laugh cause i wrote one last week while working on a little game. That's all it took for me to get the book.
So after book shopping we head home and sit around relaxing til we finally crash.
The set list was a tiny bit different than the last shows we've seen. Trent opened with Somewhat Damaged and then settled into a setlist we know and love. anyway, enough talk... pictures...
We ended up at the Parkway Grill on Friday night for an incredible dinner as always. We sat around enjoying ourselves laughing about how much we still have to talk about. We still run into those moments when we'll just sit around in silence. It turns out that by the end of the weekend we were both so tired (from the 110 temperature and running around) that we sat in almost complete silence over dinner at the black cow. Then promptly after dinner we took a walk around the block and we talking like crazy again. So 10 years... that will be in 2011. heh
BUT STILL... it really was bad. It was 2 and half hours and ALL special effects. This leads me to the following theory. The movie was obviously a LOT longer and they had to cut it down. I think when the push to cut down came the simple decision had to be made between character driven scenes, and REALLY REALLY EXPENSIVE effects that has already been paid for. There FX shots get all the love. So money drove the decision to cut the way they did.
Well all it really felt like was a heavy handed set up for another sequel. I guess i expected nothing less from a summer blockbuster.
I'm probably going to see them August 18 at the Press Room in Clairmont. That's the spot we saw em last time around, and its the best place i've seen them so far. Its right next to the CMC campus and nice little college hangout. Last time around we went early for dinner and ended up sitting directly next to the stage.
